Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "to mean" 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.

значить

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Meaning: to mean, to signify

Pronunciation: [ZNAH-cheet']

Part of speech: verb (imperfective aspect)

Rank: #196 (see frequency list)

Example sentences:

Что зна́чит э́то сло́во?
What does this word mean?
Он о́чень мно́го для меня́ зна́чит.
He is of great importance to me.
literal He means a lot to me.
Ва́ше обеща́ние ничего́ не зна́чит.
Your promise doesn't mean anything.
Что э́то зна́чит?
What does it mean?
Люби́ть -- зна́чит ве́рить.
To love means to believe.
Что зна́чит твоё и́мя?
What does your name mean? (informal)

Idioms and set expressions:

много значить = to be of great importance; mean a lot

Related words:

значиться = to be registered
означать = to mean, signify
значимый = significant, important, meaningful

Proverbs and sayings:

Знать всё -- значит не знать ничего.
To know everything is to know nothing.
Существовать, значит действовать.
To be is to do. (Immanuel Kant)

Verb conjugation:

Present Tense

I	зна́чу
you (singular)	зна́чишь
he, she, it	зна́чит
we	зна́чим
you (plural)	зна́чите
they	зна́чат

Past Tense

I, you (singular), he	зна́чил
she	зна́чила
it	зна́чило
we, you (plural), they	зна́чили

Future Simple Tense

The imperfective verb значить is not used in the Future Simple Tense.

Future Compound Tense

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

Imperative Mood (Command Form)

you (singular)	зна́чь
you (plural)	зна́чьте

View full conjugation table for the verb pair значить/-

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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