There are five main words that give the meaning, “near,” in Russian: “возле,” “около,” “у,” “рядом,” and “близко.” However, these words can only be used in certain contexts.
Please note, to say "near" in Russian, you'll need a solid command of the Russian cases, especially the genitive case. If you'd like to review them, please refer to our Russian cases page here.
For the group of words, “возле,” “около,” and “у,” you have to specify what you’re near – i.e., the sentence requires an object. For example, you can’t say “Я около” (“I’m near”) in Russian. Please note, these prepositions are followed by the genitive case.
For example:
For the group of words, “рядом” and “близко,” you don’t have to specify what you’re near – i.e., the sentence doesn’t require an object. However, you still can add an object, though you’ll need an extra preposition.
For example:
To specify what you’re near, adding an object to the sentence, you’ll need to add the prepositions “с” + instrumental case to “рядом” and “от” + genitive case or "к" + dative case to “близко.”
For example: