To be or not "to be"

Russians do not use the verb "to be" in the present tense (that is, to describe something that is occurring now).

For example, the phrase:

I am a student

is written in Russian as:

Я - студент

which literally means:

I am a student

Note also, that Russian does not use the prepositions "a" or "the", so the above phrase could also mean:

I am the student

The exact meaning depends on the context in which the phrase is used.

Keep in mind that Russians do use the verb "to be" in the future tense "I will wake at 6am", and in the past tense "I was happy to see you".

And technically they do have a verb "to be" that is sometimes used in the present tense (являться), but it is generally found only in the context of scientific language. More about this in a later lesson.