Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to leave" 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.

уйти

Meaning: to leave, depart, go away, escape, resign, spend, stretch

Pronunciation: [ooy-TEE]

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #266 (see frequency list)

The guests have left.
Photo by Andrew Stawarz, licensed under CC-BY-ND 2.0

Example sentences:

Мне на́до уйти́.
I need to leave.
Го́сти ушли́.
The guests have left.
Па́вел ушёл на рабо́ту.
Pavel left for work.
Ни́на вста́ла и ушла́.
Nina got up and left.
Он попроси́л всех уйти́ из комнаты.
He asked everyone to leave the room.
Он ушёл из компа́нии и на́чал свой би́знес.
He left the company and stated his own business.
Он ушёл из жи́зни де́вять лет наза́д.
He died nine years ago.
Банди́ты ушли́ от пого́ни.
The bandits escaped from the chase.
Макси́м ушёл в кни́гу с голово́й.
Maxim engrossed in the book.
По́езд уже ушёл.
The train has left already.
Я от ба́бушки ушёл. От тебя́, за́йца, пода́вно уйду́! ("Колобок")
From old woman I ran away. From you, rabbit, I will run away for sure! ('Kolobok' fairy tale)
Часы́ ушли́ вперёд на пять секу́нд.
The watch is five seconds fast.
literal The watch went ahead on five seconds.
Часы́ ушли́ с аукцио́на за миллио́н рубле́й.
The watch was sold on the auction for one million rubles.
literal The watch went off the auction for one million rubles.
На э́то уйдёт три часа́.
This will take three hours.

Idioms and set expressions:

уйти́ с рабо́ты = to leave one's job
уйти́ во что-либо с голово́й = to be engrossed in smth.
literal to leave into smth. with the head
уйти́ из жи́зни = to die
literal to leave from life
уйти́ на пе́нсию = to retire
literal to leave on pension
уйти́ в нау́ку/спорт = to devote oneself to science/sport
часы́ ушли́ вперёд = the watch/clock is fast
literal the watch/clock went ahead
уйти́ ни с чем = to go away empty-handed
literal to leave with nothing
уйти́ не со́лоно хлеба́вши = to go away empty-handed
literal to leave not salty having eaten
уйти́ в про́шлое = to become a thing of the past
literal to go into the past
уйти́ в себя́ = to go inside one's shell; to withdraw into oneself
душа́ в пя́тки ушла́ = to have one's heart in the boots
literal the soul went to heels

Related words:

удалиться = to leave, move off, withdraw
уволиться = to leave
погрузиться = to engross

Proverbs and sayings:

Кто встал пора́ньше, ушёл пода́льше.
It's the early bird that catches/gets the worm.
literal Who got up earlier, went further.
Мо́лодость ушла́ - не прости́лась, а ста́рость пришла́ - не спроси́лась.
Gray hairs are death's blossoms.
literal Youth left - didn't say goodbye, old age came - didn't ask.
Де́ло не медве́дь, в лес не уйдёт.
The work is not like bear - it would not run in the forest.
Вчера́ не дого́нишь, а от за́втра не уйдёшь.
What must be, must be.
literal You can't catch yesterday and go away from tomorrow.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb уйти is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb уходить instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	ушёл
she	ушла́
it	ушло́
we, you (plural), they	ушли́

Future Simple Tense

I	уйду́
you (singular)	уйдёшь
he, she, it	уйдёт
we	уйдём
you (plural)	уйдёте
they	уйду́т

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb уйти is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb уходить instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	уйди́
you (plural)	уйди́те

View full conjugation table for the verb pair уходить/уйти

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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