Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to manage" 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.

удаться

Meaning: to manage, be a suscess, turn out well

Pronunciation: [oo-DAH-tsuh]

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #570 (see frequency list)

Fortunately, he managed to pass the driving test.
Photo by Arek Olek CC-BY-SA-2.0

Example sentences:

Наконéц-то мне удалócь поговори́ть с ним!
I finally managed to speak to him!
Не всегдá удаëтся успеть всë.
One cannot always manage to have time for everything.
К счácтью, ему́ удалócь сдать экзáмен на правá.
Fortunately, he managed to pass the driving test.
literal Fortunately, he managed to pass the exam for driving licence.
Осóбенно ему́ удаю́тся портрéты.
He especially succeeds at painting portraits.
Да, обéд сегóдня удался́ на слáву!
Yes, the dinner was really wonderful today!
literal Yes, the dinner was a great success today!
Нам не удалócь взять у негó автóграф.
We didn't manage to get his autograph.
Ей удалócь достáть билéт в Большóй теáтр.
She managed to get tickets to the Bolshoi.
Дóчка удалácь в отцá.
The daughter takes after her father.
literal The daughter succeeded in her father.
Мóжно считáть, что охóта удалácь.
We can admit that the hunting was a success.
literal It's possible to consider that the hunting was a success.
Мне никогдá не удаëтся спать 8 часóв.
I never manage to sleep 8 hours.

Idioms and set expressions:

не удáться рócтом = to be short
literal not to succeed at height
жизнь удалácь = I succeeded in life
literal life was a success

Related words:

удавáться = to manage, be a success
получи́ться = to turn out well, to succeed

Proverbs and sayings:

За всë берëтся, да не всë удаëтся.
Something is worth doing if you can manage to do it well.
literal Tries to do everything, but not everything turns out well.
Удалócь картáвому кря́кнуть.
To manage to do something not really well. (ironically)
literal A person having a burr managed to quack.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb удаться is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb удаваться instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	уда́лся (удался́)
she	удала́сь
it	удало́сь (уда́лось)
we, you (plural), they	удали́сь (уда́лись)

Future Simple Tense

I	уда́мся
you (singular)	уда́шься
he, she, it	уда́стся
we	удади́мся
you (plural)	удади́тесь
they	удаду́тся

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb удаться is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb удаваться instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	уда́йся
you (plural)	уда́йтесь

View full conjugation table for the verb pair удаваться/удаться

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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