GrammarCapitalization

Russian uses capital letters far less often than English. Most words stay lowercase unless the sentence begins or you are dealing with a proper name. The sections below cover the main cases where capitalization is required.

Start of a sentence

The first word of a sentence is capitalized, same as in English.

• Здесь хо́лодно. - It is cold here.
• Почему́ ты опозда́л? - Why were you late?

Proper names

Names get capitalized: Анна́, Ива́н, Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин.

• Вчера́ я ви́дел Анну́ в па́рке. - Yesterday I saw Anna in the park.
• В шко́ле мы чита́ли Пу́шкина. - At school we read Pushkin.

Countries, cities, and rivers

Countries, cities, rivers etc get capitalized: Росси́я, Казахста́н, Санкт-Петербу́рг, Во́лга, Не́ва.

• Мы жи́ли в Росси́и три го́да. - We lived in Russia for three years.
• Корабли́ плыву́т по Во́лге. - Ships sail on the Volga.

Multi-word place names

For multi-word place names capitalize the first word of the name: Тверска́я ули́ца, Чёрное мо́ре. If the descriptor is not part of the actual name, keep it lowercase: о́зеро Сели́гер, река́ Дон, го́род Москва́.

• Мы шли по Тверско́й ули́це. - We walked along Tverskaya Street.
• О́зеро Сели́гер изве́стно рыбака́м. - Lake Seliger is well known among fishermen.

That is essentially the full list: only these patterns call for capitals in this sense. So in contrast to English the following are not capitalized:

Languages ❌

Languages are not capitalized: англи́йский язы́к, не́мецкий язы́к.

• Та́ня изуча́ет ру́сский язы́к. - Tanya is studying Russian.
• Бра́т говори́т по-англи́йски. - My brother speaks English.

Months and weekdays ❌

Month names and weekday names are lowercase: янва́рь (January), понеде́льник (Monday).

• Собра́ние бу́дет в понеде́льник. - The meeting will be on Monday.
• Роди́тели прие́хали в январе́. - My parents arrived in January.