The 67 most common Russian verbs

These are the 67 verbs among the 500 most common Russian words, in the order a corpus of everyday writing says you will meet them.

Meanings are given in English on this page. In the app they appear in your own language, translated on your device.

#WordTypeMeaning
8бытьVerbsto be
55естьVerbsthere is, there are
65хотетьVerbsto want, to desire
70говоритьVerbsto speak, to talk (perfective поговорить)
72сказатьVerbsto say, to tell
76знатьVerbsto know
81статьVerbsto stand
100сделатьVerbsto make, to do
107иметьVerbsto have, to possess
115делатьVerbsto make, to do
117получитьVerbsto receive, to get
123являтьсяVerbsto report (in person), to appear
127думатьVerbsto think
132работатьVerbsto work
146видетьVerbsto see (perceive by eyesight)
160любитьVerbsto love, to like, to be fond of
163датьVerbsto give
186стоятьVerbsto stand
187найтиVerbsto find
203находитьсяVerbsto be found, to turn up
207житьVerbsto live
210сталVerbsbegan to
211выйтиVerbsto exit, to go out
212идтиVerbsto go
216смотретьVerbsto look, to gaze
225остатьсяVerbsto remain, to stay
236пониматьVerbsto understand, to comprehend, to see
240могутVerbsthird-person plural present indicative imperfective of
244считатьVerbsto calculate
246понятьVerbsto understand, to comprehend, to see
252игратьVerbsto play
259могуVerbsfirst-person singular present indicative imperfective
267принятьVerbsto take
270решитьVerbsto solve, to settle
279взятьVerbsto take
294использоватьVerbsto use, to apply
300следоватьVerbsto follow (move continually behind someone or something)
302пойтиVerbsto go
308писатьVerbsto write
314оказатьсяVerbsto turn out, to be found, to prove (to be)
315пройтиVerbsto pass, to go, to walk
316будуVerbsI will have, I would like
319появитьсяVerbsto appear, to show up, to emerge
323вернутьсяVerbsto return, to come back (from)
326увидетьVerbsto see, to catch sight of, to notice
335прийтиVerbsto come (to), to arrive (at)
337узнатьVerbsto recognize
338ждатьVerbsto wait for (to stay where one is or delay action)
362пытатьсяVerbsto attempt, to try
364посмотретьVerbsto look
389показатьVerbsto show
403рассказатьVerbsto tell
404начинатьVerbsto begin, to start
411вестиVerbsto lead, to preside over, to chair
422нравитьсяVerbsto please [with dative ‘someone’]
427происходитьVerbsto take place, to happen, to occur
436начатьVerbsto begin, to start, to commence
442заниматьсяVerbsto study, to learn
460составлятьVerbsto constitute, to make up, to form
462искатьVerbsto look for, to seek
466представлятьVerbsto present, to offer
474становитьсяVerbsto stand, to take a stand
477помнитьVerbsto remember, to recollect, to think of, to keep in mind
478проходитьVerbsto pass, to go, to walk
488попастьVerbsto hit (a target)
489умеретьVerbsto die of natural causes
500надеятьсяVerbsto hope

All 500 A1 words are on this page, free, with no sign-up.

The rest of the list

  • A2A2 Beginner: 500 more wordsголос · задача · объект · век · ситуация
  • B1B1 Intermediate: 750 more wordsдни · практически · трудно · ю · сообщить
  • B2B2 Upper intermediate: 750 more wordsолимпиада · кампания · боевик · битва · секунда

A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, in the app, where you can also send any word straight into spaced review and meet it again on the day you are about to forget it.

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Where this comes from

The order is measured: it comes from how often each word appears in a large corpus, counted across all the forms of a word rather than each form separately, so a verb is ranked where you really meet it. The band edges are a convention rather than a measurement. Nothing says word 501 is harder than word 500; the levels are cut where established graded reader series cut theirs.

wordfreq 3.1 (frequency order) + en.wiktionary via kaikki.org (part of speech, gender, gloss). Corpus read on 2026-09-16.

Questions

Where does the order come from?

From how often each word appears in a large corpus of everyday writing. Frequency is counted across all the forms of a word and attributed to the dictionary form, so a verb is ranked where a reader really meets it rather than being spread thinly over a dozen endings.

Why are these lists shorter than the ones with 5,000 or 10,000 words?

Because past about 2,500 a frequency rank stops meaning much. Rank 6,000 in a web corpus is not a harder word, it is a word that happens to be common in journalism. Established graded reader series top out near 2,500 headwords for the same reason.

Is every word in the list a real dictionary word?

Yes. Every headword is checked against the language's own Wiktionary entry, which is where the part of speech, the gender and the meaning come from. That check is what removes the proper nouns, single letters and corpus noise that raw frequency lists are full of.

Do I need the app?

Not for this page. The A1 list is free here and free in the app. A2 to B2 are part of Oqou Pro, and the app is also where a word can go from a list into a review queue, which is the part a page cannot do.

Has a native speaker checked these?

Not yet. The frequency order and the part of speech are mechanical, and the meanings come from a dictionary rather than being written by hand, but nothing here has been through native review. If you spot a meaning that is technically right and practically useless, we would like to hear about it.