Duo Russian Grammar

17) Conjunctions

а vs. и

In Russian, и is used to show similarity. Otherwise you should use а, which shows contrast. To be more specific, here are the typical patterns:

  • Я мальчик, а ты девочка. = I am a boy and you are a girl.
  • Я работаю в кафе, а ты в школе. = I work in a cafe, and you (work) in a school.
  • Я люблю спать, а ты нет. = I like sleeping, and you don't.
  • А ты? = And you? → often used to indicate a question.

зато (negative, зато positive)

A conjunction used for "compensating" for something unpleasant with something that, you imply, is good:

  • У нас нет молока, зато есть хлеб = We don't have milk but we do have bread.
  • Мальчик ещё не умеет писать, зато хорошо читает. = The boy cannot write yet but he reads well.

Not exactly the best thing to translate into English ("on the other hand"? "but at least"? "thankfully?"), so it is not often used in this course.

хотя ('though')

Much like the English though/even though/although. It is often combined with "и" before the predicate (which is sometimes directly after «хотя»):

  • Он здесь, хотя (он) и не знает ничего.= Он здесь, хотя (он) ничего и не знает. = He is here, even though he doesn't know anything.

как

This conjunction has a rather interesting use, to show when someone perceives someone else's action:

  • Я ви́жу, как она́ танцу́ет. = I see her dancing.
  • Они́ слу́шают, как музыка́нт игра́ет. = They listen to the musician playing.

For а, there is also "narrative" contrast pattern, largely absent from this course (but not from real-life Russian):

  • На столе чашка, а в чашке чай. = There is a cup on the table, and the cup has tea in it.
  • Он здесь, а это значит — воды нет. = He is here, and that means there's no water.
  • Такси — это машина, а машины не всегда хорошо работают. = A taxi is a car, and cars do not always work well. (here, you are making your point by introducing a new thought "unexpected" by a listener)