# Russian Word Stress for the EGE: How to Prepare for Task 4

*2026-09-20*

“Начал”, “начала”, “начавший” and “начатый” look familiar, but knowing their shared root won't tell you where the stress falls in all four words. When preparing for Russia's Unified State Exam (ЕГЭ, or EGE), check each form separately: can you pronounce it without looking at a list with the stressed vowels marked?

Start with the twelve words below. Write down your answers, check the key, and make a few flashcards from the words that gave you trouble. You'll have a small set ready for your next session. It will help you work on your mistakes, but it doesn't replace the full pronunciation word list.

![A craftsperson adjusts two hanging mobiles with wooden shapes arranged in different orders](/blog/ege-russian-word-stress.png)

## Test yourself first

Mark the stress in the bold words without looking at the next section. Use a capital letter for the stressed vowel or add a stress mark. Write your answers down so you won't be tempted to decide, after checking, that you “meant something like that”.

| No. | Say the bold word aloud |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | Она **начала** читать. |
| 2 | На столе стоят **торты**. |
| 3 | Этот рисунок **красивее** предыдущего. |
| 4 | Ребёнок коснулся **локтя**. |
| 5 | **Начавший** первым ещё пишет. |
| 6 | Она **клала** книги на полку. |
| 7 | Это уже **занятый** стул. |
| 8 | Телефон снова **звонит**. |
| 9 | Он **начал** читать. |
| 10 | Рукава доходят до **локтей**. |
| 11 | Комната **занята**. |
| 12 | **Начатый** рисунок лежит на столе. |

Next to each answer, write “confident”, “unsure” or “can't remember”. If you spent a long time weighing up the options and guessed correctly, that word still deserves another look. Getting all twelve right after some hesitation calls for a different next session from answering all twelve confidently.

We designed this exercise to test recall. In EGE Task 4, you select words with correctly marked stress; here, you mark it yourself. Also use the official sample paper for your exam year to familiarise yourself with the exam's wording.

## Answer key: where the stress falls

All twelve forms have been checked against the [pronunciation word list in FIPI's EGE 2026 preparation guide](https://doc.fipi.ru/navigator-podgotovki/navigator-ege/2026/ru-1-fonetika.pdf). The table uses a capital vowel to mark stress. Compare each answer with what you wrote, leaving any mistake visible beside it: that will show you what to practise.

| No. | Answer | Word form being tested |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | началА | Past-tense verb, feminine. |
| 2 | тОрты | Plural noun. |
| 3 | красИвее | Comparative form of an adjective. |
| 4 | лОктя | Genitive singular. |
| 5 | начАвший | Active participle. |
| 6 | клАла | Past-tense verb, feminine. |
| 7 | зАнятый | Full form. |
| 8 | звонИт | Third-person singular. |
| 9 | нАчал | Past-tense verb, masculine. |
| 10 | локтЕй | Genitive plural. |
| 11 | занятА | Short feminine form. |
| 12 | нАчатый | Passive participle. |

These words can trip you up for several different reasons. Work through them according to your answers, rather than following the order of the table.

**Numbers 1 and 9: нАчал — началА.** If you got one form right and the other wrong, keep them as separate questions. The front of a card should make it clear which form you need to pronounce. The short phrases “он начал” and “она начала” are enough.

**Numbers 5 and 12: начАвший — нАчатый.** Both the form and the meaning change here: the first word describes someone who started an action, and the second describes something that was started. Work through that difference first, then say both words aloud. Next time you test yourself, mix them with other words so the neighbouring form doesn't give you a clue.

**Numbers 4 and 10: лОктя — локтЕй.** Putting “локоть” on a card won't test the endings you need. Write out each troublesome form in full. The same approach works for зАнятый and занятА: knowing the full form doesn't yet show whether you remember the short one.

Compare началА and клАла, too. Both verbs are feminine, but their stress patterns differ. One example you got right isn't enough to establish a rule for the whole group. Before relying on a rhyme or another memory aid, check the stress in that specific form against the source.

If you made a mistake with тОрты, красИвее or звонИт, an individual card works for those as well. You don't need a complicated explanation for every word. A precise question and a checked answer are enough to start.

## Which list to use for your exam year

The selection above uses the 2026 materials. **As of 20 September 2026**, the EGE 2027 documents on the [FIPI website](https://fipi.ru/ege/demoversii-specifikacii-kodifikatory) are still drafts. The draft sample paper retains the task of selecting words with correctly marked stress. Before your exam, check your study materials against the final documents for your exam year and the [FIPI preparation guide](https://fipi.ru/navigator-podgotovki/navigator-ege).

This is especially useful when choosing a premade deck or someone else's table. An “EGE 2026” label doesn't confirm that it matches the 2027 list. Save a link to the official source alongside your cards so you can quickly resolve doubts. Our short quiz demonstrates a way to study the words; you'll need to work through the rest of the current list separately.

## One tricky form, one card

Put the word on the front without marking its stress. On the back, put the answer and, if needed, a short note about the form. Context should clarify the question without giving away the pronunciation.

| Front | Back |
| --- | --- |
| Она начала читать. Поставьте ударение в «начала». | началА |
| Он начал читать. Поставьте ударение в «начал». | нАчал |
| локтей — поставьте ударение | локтЕй; genitive plural |
| занята — поставьте ударение | занятА; short feminine form |

Don't add a whole family of related words to the back of every card. A single question and answer make it clear which form you recalled. You'll find more examples of this approach in our guide to [making better flashcards](/blog/how-to-make-better-flashcards/).

Reversing the cards won't help you test stress here: if you see “началА”, the answer is already in front of you. Keep the direction “word with no stress marked → pronunciation”, and turn the card over only after you've tried to answer.

As you expand the set, pay attention to “ё”. [FIPI allows it to be written as “е” in Task 4](https://doc.fipi.ru/navigator-podgotovki/navigator-ege/2026/ru-1-fonetika.pdf). If you practise this way, make it clear in advance that the fronts of your cards use this substitution, and keep the standard spelling in the answers. Otherwise, the letter itself may reveal the stress. None of our twelve forms has this additional difficulty.

## Plan your next session

Suppose you got numbers 4, 10 and 12 wrong. Make three cards: “локтя”, “локтей” and “начатый”. Add the forms you were unsure about, then mix in a few words you pronounced confidently. Don't reread the answer key just before answering.

Try returning to the set tomorrow, then again a few days later. This is an example of a starting schedule, not a required interval for every word. If you use an app that schedules reviews, do the reviews it assigns and mark your mistakes honestly. Once you can answer confidently, add the next small batch from the current list while continuing to review earlier words.

Nibomo has an independent [“Орфоэпия ЕГЭ-2026” deck with 192 cards](/catalog/packages/ege-2026-russian-orthoepy-flashcards/). It is not affiliated with or endorsed by FIPI, and no claim is made here that it matches the final 2027 materials. Review its contents and source before studying. Our [guide to premade decks](/blog/how-to-study-a-premade-anki-deck/) can help when working with a larger set.

You can finish your first session with three specific cards and a clear plan for tomorrow. If you made no mistakes, take the next batch of words from your exam year's list and test them in the same way.

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