This series assumes no prior knowledge of Russian; it begins with the alphabet and continues with singular case forms, verbal aspect and conjugation, and in-depth coverage of verbs of motion.

We add plural case forms, numbers, negative and indefinite constructions, and an introduction to prefixed verbs of motion, before reading some powerful Soviet-era poetry and prose.

We now shift our focus from the Soviet to the Imperial era, and to such intermediate topics as participles and prefixed verbs of motion, while reading some real classics of Russian poetry.

While covering a few remaining topics in intermediate grammar, Book 4 also looks at Russian word-building in detail, including prefixation, suffixation, verb families, and foreign borrowings.