Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to see" 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.

увидеть

Meaning: to see, to spot, to catch sight of

Pronunciation: [oo-VEE-deet']

Part of speech: verb (perfective aspect)

Rank: #163 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Соба́ка уви́дела ко́шку.
The dog saw the cat.
Они́ не уви́дели меня́.
They didn't spot me.
Я посмотре́л в сто́рону и уви́дел Ни́ну.
I looked away and saw Nina.
Тако́е мо́жно уви́деть то́лько в кино́.
This can be seen only in movies.
Обезья́на уви́дела своё отраже́ние в зе́ркале.
The monkey saw its reflection in the mirror.
Иди́те пря́мо пока́ не уви́дите парк.
Go straight until you see the park.
Она́ понра́вилась мне, как то́лько я её уви́дел.
I liked her as soon as I saw her.
Вы нигде́ бо́льше тако́го не уви́дите!
You can't see that anywhere else! (polite)
Уви́дев нас, Макси́м подошёл и поздоро́вался.
Upon seeing us, Maxim went up and said hello.
Я буква́льно засты́л на ме́сте от уви́денного.
I literally froze on the spot from what I saw.

Idioms and set expressions:

увидеть свет = to see the light; to see the elephant; to be born
случайно увидеть = to oversee; to see accidentally

Proverbs and sayings:

Лучше один раз увидеть, чем сто раз услышать.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
literal It's better to see once than to hear hundred times.
Малого не растишь -- большого не увидишь.
Think big, act small.
literal If you don't grow small things -- you won't see the big ones.
Поживём -- увидим.
We shall see what we shall see.
literal We'll live and see.
Пришёл, увидел, победил.
Came. Saw. Won. (Caesar)

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

The perfective verb увидеть is not used in the Present Tense. Use the imperfective verb видеть instead.

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	уви́дел
she	уви́дела
it	уви́дело
we, you (plural), they	уви́дели

Future Simple Tense

I	уви́жу
you (singular)	уви́дишь
he, she, it	уви́дит
we	уви́дим
you (plural)	уви́дите
they	уви́дят

Future Compound Tense

The perfective verb увидеть is not used in the Future Compound Tense. Use the imperfective verb видеть instead.

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	уви́дь
you (plural)	уви́дьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair видеть/увидеть

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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