When telling a personal story in Russian, relying only on basic words like 'потом' can make your narrative feel disjointed. To sequence your experiences smoothly, you need connectors that mark when things start, how they progress, and how they conclude. In this deck, you will learn key chronological connectors and multi-word conjunctions to structure stories naturally.

To mark the opening action of a story or sequence, Russian uses 'сначала', which means 'at first' or 'first of all'. It usually sits at the beginning of the clause. For example, 'Сначала мы пообедали в кафе' means 'First we had lunch in a café'.

To introduce the next step in a sequence, use 'затем'. It means 'subsequently', 'then', or 'next', and sounds more structured and intentional than the everyday word 'потом'. It often pairs with the conjunction 'А', as in 'а затем'. For example, 'Мы пообедали, а затем пошли в музей' means 'We had lunch, and then went to the museum'.