Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "a child" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

ребёнок

Meaning: a child, a kid, an infant

Pronunciation: [ree-BYOH-nuhk]

Part of speech: noun (masculine noun. In some situations, the plural form "дети" is used instead of "ребята". It originates from the synonym "дитя".)

Rank: #162 (see frequency list)

A child having breakfast. Painting by Amalia Lindgren.

Example sentences:

Ребёнок кре́пко спит.
A child is sound asleep.
Мать игра́ет с ребёнком.
A mother is playing with the kid.
Ната́лья родила́ ребёнка.
Natalia gave birth to a baby.
Де́вушка де́ржит ребёнка на рука́х.
A girl holds a child on her hands.
Он спит, как ма́ленький ребёнок.
He sleeps like a little baby.
Переста́нь вести́ себя́ как ребёнок.
Stop behaving like a child.
Ребя́та игра́ют во дворе́.
Kids are playing in the yard.
У вас е́сть де́ти?
Do you have children? (polite or plural)

Related words:

дитя́ = a child
малы́ш = a baby
ребяти́шки = kids, children (diminutive plural)
ребя́тки = kids, children (diminutive plural)
ребёночек = a little kid (diminutive singular)

Other forms of the word (declensions):

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ребёнок	ребя́та
Genitive	ребёнка	ребя́т
Dative	ребёнку	ребя́там
Accusative	ребёнка	ребя́т
Instrumental	ребёнком	ребя́тами
Prepositional	ребёнке	ребя́тах

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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