Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "initially" 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.

сначала

Meaning: initially, at first

Pronunciation: [snah-CHAH-lah]

Part of speech: adverb

Rank: #482 (see frequency list)

I had lunch first and then I started working.
Photo by Rob Pearce CC-BY-2.0

Example sentences:

Снача́ла я пообе́дал, а пото́м на́чал рабо́тать.
I had lunch first and then I started working.
Снача́ла никто́ не заме́тил, как он сворова́л де́ньги из карма́на пассажи́ра.
Nobody noticed at first that he stole money from the passenger's pocket.
Снача́ла па́па с ма́мой не ссо́рились.
At first my mum and dad didn't quarell.
Ты снача́ла ду́май, а по́том говори́!
Think first; and then start speaking! (informal "you")
Снача́ла никто́ не понима́л, что нас ждëт.
At the beginning nobody understood what was awaiting us.
Дава́й попро́буем сказа́ть речь снача́ла.
Let's try to give the speech from the beginning.
Начнëм снача́ла, с чи́стого листа́.
Let's start it from the very beginning, from scratch.
literal Let's start from the beginning, from the blank page.

Related words:

ра́ньше = earlier
пре́жде = earlier
нача́льный = initial
нача́ло = origin

Proverbs and sayings:

Снача́ла ду́май, а пото́м де́лай.
Think first and then start doing it.
Снача́ла гу́сто, а под коне́ц пу́сто.
Many people start an affair, but not many of them finish it.
literal First it's thick and at the end it's empty.
Слу́хам не верь, а снача́ла прове́рь.
Don't believe in gossip, verify them first.

Vocabulary lesson: By Russificate blog exclusively for MasterRussian

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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