Why Russian has no articles (and what it uses instead!)

Dear Russian learner! 

I don't know if you'll be happy or sad, but the Russian language has no articles! The information carried by articles in European languages is hidden within other grammatical categories in Russian. However, most often, context is simply needed to understand it.

So, what does the Russian language use instead of articles?

Word order

Russian syntax is quite flexible and has its own shades of meaning. Something important or specific is often placed at the beginning.

• «Книга лежит на столе» (speaking about a specific book – “The book is on the table”)
• «На столе лежит книга» (here, ‘книга’ is used with an indefinite meaning – “A book is on the table”)

Pronouns

To emphasize specificity, Russian uses pronouns like «этот» (this) and «тот» (that), as well as a number of others.

• «Эта книга лежит на столе» or «На том столе лежит книга» (“This book is on the table” / “A book is on that table”).

And if we are talking about an indefinite object, we often use «один/одна/одно» (one/a), «какой-то/какая-то/какие-то» (some/any), «некий», «некоторый» (a certain, some).

• «На столе лежит какая-то книга» (“There is some kind of book on the table”).

Russian fairy tales often begin like this: «В некотором царстве, в некотором государстве…» (“In a certain kingdom, in a certain state…”).

There is a difference: «Я купил одну книгу» (“I bought a book”) or «Я купил эту книгу» (“I bought the/this book”).

If you need to clarify, you can ask: «какую?» (“which one?”).

The presence of modifiers & dependent words

• «У окна сидела девушка и читала книгу» (indefinite meaning, meaning some kind of book – “A girl was sitting by the window reading a book”).
• «У окна сидела девушка и читала книгу Пастернака» (there is a dependent word, so definite meaning, we know exactly which book – “A girl was sitting by the window reading Pasternak's book / the book by Pasternak”).
• «У окна сидела девушка и читала книгу, которую купила вчера» (there is a whole new clause that depends on and defines the word – “A girl was sitting by the window reading the book [that] she bought yesterday”).

Also, the grammatical case of the noun and the aspect of the verb (perfective/imperfective) it is used with can indirectly influence the category of definiteness.