брать себя в руки
Literally to take oneself into one's hands
Means to regain control of one's emotions
English idiom pull oneself together
Example Возьми себя в руки и успокойся.
Pull yourself together and calm down.
An idiom is a phrase you cannot translate word for word. Here are the 25 most common Russian idioms, ranked by how often you will actually meet them, each with its literal translation, real meaning, the closest English idiom where one exists, and an example sentence with an English translation, so you know what natives actually mean.
Common Russian idioms are everyday expressions whose meaning cannot be guessed from the individual words. For example, брать себя в руки literally means "to take oneself into one's hands" but is used to mean to regain control of one's emotions. This free page ranks the 25 most common Russian idioms by how often you meet them, each with its literal translation, meaning, the closest English idiom where one exists, and an example sentence with an English translation.
All 25 idioms, most common first.
Guess the meaning, then tap a card to check.
Idiom list verified as of August 2026.
брать себя в руки
Literally to take oneself into one's hands
Means to regain control of one's emotions
English idiom pull oneself together
Example Возьми себя в руки и успокойся.
Pull yourself together and calm down.
ломать голову
Literally to break one's head
Means to think hard about a difficult problem
English idiom rack one's brains
Example Я весь вечер ломаю голову над этой задачей.
I have been racking my brains over this problem all evening.
как две капли воды
Literally like two drops of water
Means exactly alike in appearance
English idiom as alike as two peas in a pod
Example Сёстры похожи как две капли воды.
The sisters look exactly alike.
лить как из ведра
Literally to pour as if from a bucket
Means to rain very heavily
English idiom rain cats and dogs
Example Возьми зонт, дождь льёт как из ведра.
Take an umbrella, the rain is pouring down.
делать из мухи слона
Literally to make an elephant out of a fly
Means to treat a tiny problem as a huge one
English idiom make a mountain out of a molehill
Example Не преувеличивай, ты делаешь из мухи слона.
Do not exaggerate, you are making a mountain out of a molehill.
ни пуха ни пера
Literally neither fluff nor feather
Means good luck, said before an exam or another hard test
English idiom break a leg
Example Завтра экзамен? Ни пуха ни пера!
You have an exam tomorrow? Good luck!
Note The expected reply is «К чёрту!» (to the devil), never «спасибо», because thanking is thought to jinx it.
как снег на голову
Literally like snow onto the head
Means completely unexpectedly, with no warning
English idiom out of the blue
Example Гости свалились как снег на голову.
The guests turned up completely out of the blue.
не в своей тарелке
Literally not in one's own plate
Means uneasy, out of place in a situation
English idiom out of one's element
Example На той вечеринке я чувствовал себя не в своей тарелке.
At that party I felt out of place.
вешать лапшу на уши
Literally to hang noodles on someone's ears
Means to feed someone lies with a straight face
English idiom pull the wool over someone's eyes
Example Не вешай мне лапшу на уши, я знаю правду.
Do not feed me lies, I know the truth.
Note Colloquial and blunt, so it sounds like an accusation when said to someone's face.
держать язык за зубами
Literally to keep one's tongue behind one's teeth
Means to stay quiet and not give away a secret
English idiom keep one's mouth shut
Example Умей держать язык за зубами.
Learn to keep your mouth shut.
на седьмом небе от счастья
Literally on the seventh heaven from happiness
Means extremely happy
English idiom on cloud nine
Example Она получила работу и была на седьмом небе от счастья.
She got the job and was on cloud nine.
водить за нос
Literally to lead by the nose
Means to deceive someone over a long time while keeping them hopeful
English idiom string someone along
Example Он давно водит тебя за нос.
He has been stringing you along for a long time.
кот наплакал
Literally the cat cried that much
Means very little, almost none at all
Example Денег осталось кот наплакал.
There is hardly any money left.
убить двух зайцев
Literally to kill two hares
Means to achieve two goals with one action
English idiom kill two birds with one stone
Example Так мы убьём двух зайцев сразу.
That way we will kill two birds with one stone.
витать в облаках
Literally to hover in the clouds
Means to daydream instead of facing reality
English idiom have one's head in the clouds
Example Хватит витать в облаках, вернись к делу.
Stop daydreaming, get back to work.
сидеть на шее
Literally to sit on someone's neck
Means to live at someone else's expense
English idiom sponge off someone
Example Ему тридцать, а он всё сидит на шее у родителей.
He is thirty and still living off his parents.
Note Informal and openly disapproving, so it works as a reproach rather than a neutral description.
белая ворона
Literally a white crow
Means a person who stands out sharply from everyone around
English idiom the odd one out
Example В новом классе он чувствовал себя белой вороной.
In his new class he felt like the odd one out.
Note Usually neutral or sympathetic, without the blame carried by the English "black sheep".
спустя рукава
Literally with the sleeves let down
Means carelessly, without real effort
Example Он работает спустя рукава.
He does his work carelessly.
зарубить на носу
Literally to notch it on one's nose
Means to remember something once and for all
Example Заруби себе на носу: больше так не делай.
Get this into your head once and for all: never do that again.
Note Said as a stern warning, usually to someone younger or junior. The нос here is an old tally stick people carried for notches, not the nose.
как об стенку горох
Literally like peas against a wall
Means having no effect at all on the person you are talking to
English idiom like talking to a brick wall
Example Я ему сто раз говорил, а всё как об стенку горох.
I have told him a hundred times, but it is like talking to a brick wall.
ни свет ни заря
Literally neither light nor dawn
Means very early in the morning, before sunrise
English idiom at the crack of dawn
Example Мы выехали ни свет ни заря.
We set off at the crack of dawn.
тянуть кота за хвост
Literally to pull the cat by the tail
Means to drag something out instead of getting to the point
English idiom drag one's feet
Example Не тяни кота за хвост, говори прямо.
Stop dragging it out, say it straight.
Note Informal and impatient, normally said to someone you know well.
когда рак на горе свистнет
Literally when the crayfish whistles on the mountain
Means never, at no point ever
English idiom when pigs fly
Example Он вернёт долг, когда рак на горе свистнет.
He will pay the debt back when pigs fly.
Note Jokey and informal, used to mock a promise nobody believes.
остаться с носом
Literally to be left with the nose
Means to end up with nothing after counting on a gain
English idiom be left empty-handed
Example Он всех обманул, а сам остался с носом.
He tricked everyone and ended up with nothing himself.
бить баклуши
Literally to beat wooden blocks
Means to idle away time doing nothing useful
English idiom goof off
Example Хватит бить баклуши, пора работать.
Stop goofing off, it is time to work.
Note Colloquial and mildly scolding, most often aimed at children or students.
An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is fixed by convention, not built from its words. That is why a word-for-word translation fails: Брать себя в руки comes out as "to take oneself into one's hands", which makes no sense until you know it means to regain control of one's emotions.
Learn a few at a time, not a whole list. Pick the ones you keep running into, say them out loud in a real sentence, and you will remember them far longer than by drilling flashcards.
The most reliable way to absorb idioms is to meet them in context, again and again, in things you actually read. Parallel text and audio let you catch an idiom in a real Russian sentence and check what it means without breaking your reading. That is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
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The most common Russian idioms, ranked by everyday frequency, start with брать себя в руки, ломать голову, как две капли воды, лить как из ведра, делать из мухи слона. Each one means something you could not guess from the words alone, which is exactly why learners have to meet them in context. This page lists 25 of them with meanings and example sentences.
In Russian, "брать себя в руки" translates literally as "to take oneself into one's hands", but it actually means to regain control of one's emotions. The closest English idiom is "pull oneself together". Example: Возьми себя в руки и успокойся. ("Pull yourself together and calm down.")
The Russian equivalent is "брать себя в руки", literally "to take oneself into one's hands". Example: Возьми себя в руки и успокойся. ("Pull yourself together and calm down.")
In Russian, an idiom is called идиома, and a proverb is пословица. Russians call a fixed expression an идиома (in school grammar more often фразеологизм), while a пословица is a complete sentence carrying folk wisdom, such as advice or a moral.
Idioms are non-compositional: their meaning is fixed by convention, not built from the individual words. Брать себя в руки translates literally as "to take oneself into one's hands", yet it means to regain control of one's emotions. Translate word for word and you get nonsense, so idioms have to be learned as whole units.
The fastest way is to meet them in context and reuse them, not to memorize a list. Learn a handful at a time, notice them while reading and listening, and try them in your own sentences. Reading real Russian with tap-to-translate, the way Lingo7 works, turns every page into idiom practice.