Please see Part II here.

A comment to a recent post asked me to cover some introductory phrases in Russian. These small words are ubiquitous, especially in argumentative writing like news articles, and they link the ideas in a text to help the reader follow the writer’s logic.

In most cases, introductory words (вво́дные слова́) will be set off by commas. Consult an authoritative reference like Gramota to verify specific use cases.

1. Коне́чно

Коне́чно means “of course” and expresses certainty. It is pronounced коне́шно.

• Коне́чно, снача́ла мы проведе́м инструкта́ж но́вых сотру́дников (Of course, we will first give some instructions to the new employees).

“Конечно” in Russian is fairly neutral and does not sound condescending as an answer.

• Ты зна́ешь мою́ ма́му? (Do you know my mother?)
• Коне́чно! (I certainly do.)

Some synonyms of конечно include разуме́ется (clearly) and несомне́нно (undoubtedly).

2. Мо́жет быть

Мо́жет быть literally translates to “may be” and is similar to its English counterpart. It makes the sentence tentative.

• Па́ши все еще́ нет до́ма. Мо́жет быть, он задержа́лся на рабо́те. (Pasha [man’s name] still isn’t home. He might have stayed at work late.)

You could also say simply “може́т” in the same sense. Other similar words include возмо́жно (possibly) and вероя́тно (probably).

3. По-мо́ему

This very useful word means “in my opinion, it seems to me that.”

• Я до́лго объясня́ла свою́ тео́рию, но, по-мо́ему, они ничего́ не по́няли (I explained my theory for a while, but I don’t think they understood anything).

Can we use it to talk about other people’s opinions? We certainly can for ты and вы.

• Кто, по-тво́ему, победи́т на Еврови́дении? (Who do you think will win the Eurovision Song Contest?)
• Я, по-ва́шему, совсе́м ничего́ не ви́жу? (Do you think I can’t see anything at all?)

In other cases, use “по ее/его/на́шему/их мне́нию” (in her/his/our/their opinion).

4. Вообще́

Вообще́ conveys the sense of “generally.”

• Вообще́, мно́гие молоды́е лю́ди по-пре́жнему живу́т с роди́телями (Generally speaking, many young people still live with their parents).

Another variation is вообще́-то.

5. Кста́ти

Кста́ти is used to introduce a comment or a related idea, much like “by the way.”

• Мое́й ко́шке три го́да. Кста́ти, ты ее не ви́дел? (My cat is three years old. By the way, have you seen her?)

A synonym is между про́чим.

• Между про́чим, э́той пиани́стке всего́ 12 лет (By the way, this pianist is only 12 years old).

We will continue this list in our next post. Have you come across any of these or other introductory phrases?