я знаю · я не знаю · я хочу · я могу · помогите!

I know. I don't know. I want. I can. Help. Notice that 'not' is just не placed in front.

🎒 What you need

the shared phone, about 20 minutes
a partner

✋ Do this

Listen and repeat each of the five phrases five times.
Notice the pattern: to make anything negative you simply put не in front of the verb. я знаю becomes я не знаю. That is the whole rule.
Build your own negatives out loud: я не хочу, я не могу. You just made new sentences from a rule instead of memorising them.
Record yourself saying all five plus your two new negatives, and check the stress on хочу — kha-CHÚ — punch on the second half.
Play a game with a partner: they ask you anything at all and you must answer only with one of your seven phrases. Ten questions.
Write the seven phrases on cardboard in Cyrillic and hang them where you can see them.

💡 Why it works

Learning one productive rule — не goes in front — gives you more sentences than memorising ten fixed phrases would. This is the first point in the course where you generate Russian you were never taught, which is what learning a language actually consists of.

🔥 Challenge

Answer a whole conversation with a friend using only these seven phrases and see how far you get.

📖 New words

я знаю ya znáyuI know

я не знаю ya ne znáyuI don't know

я хочу ya khochúI want

я могу ya mogúI can

помогите pomogítehelp (me)

🗝️

Seven Phrases

Tap when you have finished this module.