Привет! Как твои дела? Let's continue our new online project with teacher Nastya. This is the second lesson (out of 10) for total beginners who want to start learning Russian in an interactive and easy way. Learn, enjoy, and don't forget to subscribe to get a present and not to miss the next lesson!


Emotional phrases in Russian

We communicate with people every day and hear their stories: how they spent their day or if they passed their exams, talk about parents or pets, hear and tell good or bad news. Either way, we react to what our interlocutor says. In English, people say wow! No way! Oh my god! You are kidding! To make your Russian conversations more natural, we offer you to get acquainted with a list of phrases and learn how to show that you are surprised.

First, let's learn how to react to bad or upsetting news:

• Ужас! /Какой ужас! It's terrible!
• Кошмар! /Какой кошмар! It's horrible! (Literally: it's a nightmare! This word is borrowed from French)
• Я в шоке! I am shocked!
• Не может быть! No way!
• Мне жаль! /Мне очень жаль! I am sorry for you!
• Серьёзно? Seriously?
• О боже! /О господи! Oh my god!
• Блин! Damn (Actually, блин means a pancake but the Russians use it to replace another, obscene word which starts with the same letter).

However, we hope that good events happen in your life more often, and that's why we will show a list of collocations to express that we are shocked or surprised by good news:

• Да ладно? Really?
• Не может быть! No way!
• Невероятно! Incredible!
• Правда? Is it true?
• Серьёзно? Seriously?
• Вау! Wow!
• Ничего себе! Oh my gosh!
• Вот это да! Gee!
• С ума сойти! It's crazy! I can't believe it!

Of course, it is not necessary to use all of the phrases in one dialogue. Choose the ones that you like and surprise a native speaker with your profound knowledge of live Russian! (for instance, during your 1-to-1 course). Everyone has his/her own favorite phrases to express surprise. For example, I often use да ладно?, серьёзно?, ничего себе!, and я в шоке! Which phrases caught your attention?

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