Bad words in Russian, part 1. Three words starting with letter Ё (‘Yo’)

Hello guys! In part 1 I will teach you three bad words in Russian, which are quite funny. Well, technically they are expressions rather than words.

We use them very often, and after listening to the audio you will easily recognize them in Russian colloquial speech. And not just recognize, but use them and sound totally Russian.

Five bad words in Russian and their translations

You will hardly find these expressions in serious official languages, and it makes me feel like it’s my duty to teach them to you. Letter Ё starts many exclamations and bad words in Russian. You might be acquainted with the letter Ё either from Lesson 1. Russian Alphabet or from Lesson 2. Russian swearwords based on the alphabet. Ok, here we go:

1) Ёханый бабай is… well, let me think… It cannot be translated word-for-word into English, but there are lots of equivalents, which we will check out in the Examples section. Бабай is a name for a creature that is used for scaring little children.

2) Ёперный театр is a mispronounced version of «оперный театр», which is ‘the opera theatre’. Why is it mispronounced? Well, what a silly question is that, because it’s funny!

3) Ёшкин кот is kind of a cat’s name. No, it’s not a cat’s name, it’s his owner’s name. So his owner’s name is Ёшка. Nowadays you will not find this name either in Most popular Russian male names or Least popular Russian male names.

As you learn from this article, there is a Russian word for scaring little children — БАБАЙ. And on Bali island there is no just a word, there is a whole tradition for scaring adults with lots of БАБАЙ’s.

Examples of using these bad words in Russian

When do you use these expressions? It’s simple: when you are on emotions and you want to let them out. When you want to use bad language, shortly speaking. It’s like saying Damn! Sh*t! Duck! What the hell! And so on. Let’s have a look at some examples.

1) Опять напился? Да ёшкин кот, что же с тобой такое! – Man, you got drunk again? What the hell is wrong with you?

2) Да ёшкин кот, уже час не могу найти свои очки! – Shoot, I have been looking for my glasses for an hour already!

3) Ёперный театр, машина не заводится почему-то! – Damn, my car won’t go, I don’t know why!

4) Ёперный театр, бензин кончился! – Damn, we have run out of petrol!

5) Ёханый бабай, мой самолет улетел вчера! – Duck it, I am one day late for my plane!

Ёханый бабай is a very useful Russian expression. Even on Bali!

Well, good luck with these bad words in Russian and try not to use them very often. 😉

For more bad words in Russian check out part 2.

Ok, I think that’s enough for now, take care and feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section!

Listen to Bad words in Russian, part 1. Three words starting with letter Ё (‘Yo’)