Animals in Russian

In this Rocket Russian lesson we'll be taking a trip to the zoo – зоопарк (zaapark) – to talk about all types of animals in Russianживотные (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:

Pronouncing animals in Russian

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

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

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!