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Every cooking verb a learner needs — ре́зать (to cut), жа́рить (to fry), вари́ть (to boil), туши́ть (to stew), запека́ть (to bake). With example phrases, stress marks, and English translations.
Cooking is one of the fastest ways into intermediate Russian: every verb gives you 5+ usable sentences.
| Imperfective | Perfective | English |
|---|---|---|
| ре́зать | наре́зать | to cut / slice |
| жа́рить | пожа́рить | to fry |
| вари́ть | свари́ть | to boil (cook in water) |
| туши́ть | потуши́ть | to stew / simmer |
| запека́ть | запе́чь | to bake |
| меша́ть | помеша́ть | to stir |
| взбива́ть | взбить | to whip / beat (eggs) |
| соли́ть | посоли́ть | to salt |
| пробова́ть | попро́бовать | to taste |
| подава́ть | пода́ть | to serve |
Every cooking verb is transitive (takes a direct object), every direct object is a food noun in accusative case, and every sentence forms a natural pair: imperfective for the process, perfective for the result. That makes cooking the perfect topic to absorb three things at once — vocabulary, verb aspect, and accusative case.
Example: Я ре́жу лук — I’m cutting onion (process). Я наре́зал лук — I cut the onion (done). Two sentences, two aspects, one new noun. Multiply by 30 verbs and you’ve covered an enormous range of B1 grammar painlessly.
Pick three verbs you don’t know yet. Watch a Russian cooking video on YouTube with subtitles (Юлия Высоцкая or Александр Селезнёв are good starts). Listen for your three verbs. Repeat until you spot them without effort. Then move to the next three.
Cooking videos, recipes (рецепт), grocery shopping, restaurants, talking to a Russian partner or in-laws about meals, hosting guests. Half of casual Russian small talk happens around food.
The A2 book includes complete sections on vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, kitchen items, and restaurant phrases — every word with a visual card and native audio.
Browse the A2 book — $17