Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "believe" 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.

верить

Meaning: believe, trust, be confident

Pronunciation: [VYEH-reet']

Part of speech: verb (imperfective aspect)

Rank: #417 (see frequency list)

Do you believe in UFOs?
Photo by DragonRal , licensed under CC-BY-SA-2.0

Example sentences:

Ты вéришь в Бóга?
Do you believe in God? (informal)
Вы вéрите в НЛО?
Do you believe in UFOs? (polite or plural)
Сáмое глáвное в жи́зни – вéрить в себя́.
The most important thing in life is to have faith in oneself.
Онá вéрит кáждому твоему́ слóву.
She believes your every word.
Они́ всегдá вéрили слу́хам.
They've always believed rumours.
Я тебé не вéрю, ты лжëшь!
I don't believe you, you're lying!
Олéг вéрил в успéх предприя́тия.
Oleg believed in success of the business.
Верь! Всë полу́чится!
Trust it! Everything will be ok!
Не вéрьте им, они мошéнники!
Don't trust them, they are swindlers!
Я не вéрю свои́м глазáм! Неужéли это ты?
I can't believe my eyes! Is it really you?

Idioms and set expressions:

вéрить в себя́ = to have faith in oneself
literal believe in oneself
вéрить нá слово = to take on trust
я не вéрил свои́м ушáм (глазáм) = I could not believe my ears (eyes)
хоти́те вéрьте, хоти́те нет = believe it or not
literal [if you] want believe, [if you] want don't believe

Related words:

вéра = faith
доверя́ть = trust
вéровать = believe
вéрование = belief

Proverbs and sayings:

Москвá слезáм не вéрит.
Moscow doesn't believe in tears.
Счáстью не верь, а беды́ не пугáйся.
Don't believe in happiness and don't be afraid of misfortune.
Не верь чужи́м речáм, а верь свои́м очáм.
Don't trust other people speaking, trust your eyes.

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

I	ве́рю
you (singular)	ве́ришь
he, she, it	ве́рит
we	ве́рим
you (plural)	ве́рите
they	ве́рят

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	ве́рил
she	ве́рила
it	ве́рило
we, you (plural), they	ве́рили

Future Simple Tense

The imperfective verb верить is not used in the Future Simple Tense. Use the perfective verb поверить instead.

Future Compound Tense

I	буду ве́рить
you (singular)	будешь ве́рить
he, she, it	будет ве́рить
we	будем ве́рить
you (plural)	будете ве́рить
they	будут ве́рить

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	ве́рь
you (plural)	ве́рьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair верить/поверить

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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