5 Ways to say “I (don’t) understand” in Russian
There are some ways to express understanding in Russian which we use in everyday conversation. You’ll see how short and simple these phrases are, so it won’t be difficult to remember all of them.
5 easy ways to say “I understand’
Here are 5 very short phrases for you:
(Я) понял (I understood [I got you])
If you’re a male, say я понял or just понял. If you’re a female – я поняла or поняла.We use the past form of the verb понимать here to show that what was said is perfectly understood.
– Срочно приезжай ко мне! У нас ЧП! Нет времени объяснять. Come to my house [literally: to me] immediately! We’ve got an emergency! No time to explain.
– Понял. Выезжаю. I got you. I’m on my way.
Я понимаю (I understand [I get you])
I guess, most of the time we say я понимаю when someone is complaining and we have to listen to her or to him. It’s quite rare in other situations.
Понятно (It’s understood [I got it])
Понятно is an adverb, which you can realize by looking at the ending of this word. It doesn’t change its form. You can use it all the time.
Ясно (It’s clear)
Actually, it’s the same as понятно. Literally means “it’s clear”, which can be also used when talking about the sky with no clouds.
Да я понял! (I got it! [I’m not that stupid, please stop explaining])
It’s a good way to say “I understood” when you are really annoyed. Like when someone is trying to explain you something in so many ways so many times but you’ve already got it.
– Кстати, этот актёр играл в “Криминальном чтиве”. Ну, это фильм Тарантино. Там и Траволта снимался. Они еще с Умой Турман танцевали тот знаменитый танец. By the way, this actor was in “Pulp Fiction”. It’s a Tarantino movie. Travolta also was there. He danced that famous dance with Uma Thurman.
– Да я поняла уже! I got it (already)!
One more thing…
Ясно, понятно
When you see this phrase, it’s a bad news for you. We usually say it to another person when we think he/she is stupid and we don’t really want to keep the conversation going.
The internet world brought this expression to our life. You can often see it on memes. For example:
Ways to say ‘I don’t understand’
And now what can we say if we don’t understand?
There are even more ways to do it:
- (Я) не знаю. (I don’t know.)
- Понятия не имею. / Без понятия. / Ума не приложу. (I have no idea.)
- Не представляю. (I have no idea. / I can’t imagine.)
- Откуда мне знать? (How can I know?)
- Я не в курсе. (I’m unaware.) [informal]
You can learn more phrases if you watch this video:
If you didn’t understand something in this article, leave a comment, don’t be shy 🙂
