In this Rocket Russian lesson we'll be taking a trip to the zoo – зоопарк (zaapark) – to talk about all types of animals in Russian – животные (zhivotnye) or wild animals - звери (zveri)! You might have a dog or cat at home, but I bet you don't have a monkey. You'd have to take a tour while in a Russian-speaking country to see some of these. Russia presents a great opportunity to see some wildlife in taiga (forest)!
After this lesson you'll be able to talk about the animals in Russian in your life and also about the more rare animals you don't see every day.
Let's get started...
Resources for further reading:
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Russian pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
животные
zhivotnye
animals
звери
zveri
wild animals
зоопарк
zaapark
Zoo
собака
sabaka
dog
кот
kot
cat (male)
кошка
koshka
cat (female)
птица
pteetsa
bird
лошадь
loshat’
horse
пони
poni
pony
корова
karova
cow
мышь
mysh
mouse
обезьяна
abiz’yana
monkey
свинья
svin’ya
pig
олень
alen’
deer
слон
slon
elephant
жираф
zhiraf
giraffe
козëл
kazyol
goat
бык
byk
ox
горилла
gareela
gorilla
тигр
teegr
tiger
медведь
midvet’
bear
How did you do? A lot of these animal words look similar to the names in English. But don't be fooled! You still need to practice, practice, practice to get the pronunciation right! Feel free to go through this lesson again and say the words out loud until you have animal names perfected.
Here are a few recommended Russian lessons to try next!
Пока (Paka)
Natalya Dubrov: Rocket Russian
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!