Ulitsa Street: Reading and Writing a Russian Address Correctly

Ulitsa (written ul. in short form) simply means "street" in Russian, so "Ulitsa Street" repeats the same word twice. On an envelope or a delivery form you write either "ul. Lenina" or "Lenin Street", never both. When you see ulitsa in an address, treat it as the street type and the word next to it as the actual name.

That small detail matters more than it looks. Most of the orders we take from abroad come with an address copied from a message, a map pin or an old letter, and a doubled or mistranslated street type is one of the commonest reasons a courier has to stop and call. Below we explain how Russian addresses are built, which street words you will meet besides ulitsa, and how to fill in a flower order so the bouquet arrives at the right flat on the first attempt.

What ulitsa means and why the name comes after it

In Russian the street type usually comes first: ulitsa Pushkina, ulitsa Gagarina, ulitsa Sadovaya. Most street names are nouns in the genitive case, which is why they end in -a, -ogo or -oy. Ulitsa Pushkina literally reads "street of Pushkin". In English you would say Pushkin Street, and that is a perfectly good way to write it for a courier.

Some streets carry an adjective instead of a person's name: Sadovaya ulitsa (Garden Street), Tsentralnaya ulitsa (Central Street). Here the street type can sit after the name, and both orders are used in real life. Neither changes where the building is, so do not worry about the word order; worry about the spelling of the name itself.

If you want a deeper look at the word and its history, we wrote a separate guide: Ulitsa Meaning: What 'Street' in Russian Means on an Address. For delivery purposes the rule is short: ulitsa equals street, keep one of them, and copy the name exactly as your recipient wrote it.

Other Russian street words you will see on an address

Ulitsa is the most common type, but far from the only one. Prospekt (pr.) is a wide avenue, often a main road through a district. Pereulok (per.) is a lane or side street, usually short. Shosse (sh.) is a highway, frequently leading out of town. Bulvar (bul.) is a boulevard with a green strip in the middle, and naberezhnaya (nab.) is an embankment along a river or canal.

You may also meet ploshchad (pl.) for a square, proyezd (pr-d) for a passage between two streets, and tupik for a dead end. In Saint Petersburg, linia (line) is used on Vasilievsky Island, where streets are numbered like 5th Line or 12th Line. In some cities a street and a lane share the same name, for example Lenina ulitsa and Lenina pereulok, and they can be a kilometre apart.

That last point is the real reason to keep the street type. "Lenina 12" without a type may exist twice. When you send us an address, keep whatever abbreviation the recipient used, or translate it once: ul. becomes Street, pr. becomes Avenue, per. becomes Lane. Never translate it and then add the Russian word as well.

Bouquets we can deliver

Bouquet of 1 yellow sunflowers

$13

Bouquet of 3 white French roses with eucalyptus, 50 cm

$18

Bouquet of 3 red French roses with eucalyptus, 50 cm

$18

Bouquet of 3 pink roses with eucalyptus, 50 cm

$18

The full structure of a Russian delivery address

A Russian address runs from large to small: region, city, street, building, then flat. A typical line looks like this: Moscow, ul. Tverskaya, d. 7, korp. 2, kv. 45. Here d. (dom) is the building number, korp. (korpus) is a block within the same plot, str. (stroenie) is another type of building number, and kv. (kvartira) is the flat.

For a courier the most useful extras are the ones that are not part of the postal address at all: the entrance number (podyezd), the floor (etazh) and the door code (domofon). Large Soviet-era blocks may have eight or ten entrances, each with its own staircase. Knowing that flat 45 is in entrance 3 on the 6th floor saves the courier a walk around the building and saves your recipient a phone call at the wrong moment.

For offices, add the company name and the floor or room number. For hospitals, hotels and business centres, add the department or reception and the recipient's full name as it appears on their documents. These buildings often have a front desk that accepts flowers, and the name is what the staff will check.

Transliteration: why one street can be spelled four ways

There is no single standard that everybody uses to write Russian in Latin letters. The same street can appear as ulitsa Zhukova, ulica Zhukova, ul. Jukova or Zhukov Street. All of them are the same place. Our operators read the original Russian address, so you can send it in Cyrillic, in transliteration or in English, whichever you have.

What does cause trouble is a guessed spelling. Letters such as e and yo, i and y, or the soft sign get lost when someone retypes an address from memory. If your recipient has sent you the address in a message, copy and paste it rather than retyping. If you only have a map link, send us the link together with the flat number; a pin alone does not tell the courier which entrance or floor to go to.

A quick check that helps: ask the recipient for the nearest metro station or a landmark. It is not part of the address, but it lets the operator confirm the right district when two streets have similar names.

How to order flowers to a Russian address with us

Choose a bouquet in our Bouquets catalogue, then enter the recipient's name, phone number and address. Delivery within a city costs 500 RUB; for remote districts and suburbs the operator confirms the price when confirming the order. Pay online by bank card, SBP or Yandex Pay.

In large cities we can deliver express, 1-2 hours after the order is confirmed. You can also pick an exact time (plus or minus 30 minutes), a time window of 09-12, 12-15, 15-18 or 18-21, or pre-order the bouquet 1-30 days ahead, which is the calm option for birthdays and anniversaries. The full terms are on the Delivery and payment page.

The courier calls the recipient about 15 minutes before arrival. If nobody is home, we agree a second delivery the same day or, with your consent, leave the bouquet with a neighbour or concierge. Delivery is anonymous by default, and a card with your text is free, so you decide whether to sign it.

If the address looks unusual, or you are not sure which entrance to give, message our manager on WhatsApp before paying. The manager will check the address with you, agree the time and card text, and can send a photo of the bouquet before it leaves.

A florist's checklist before you press pay

Read the address once as the courier will read it. Is there one street type, not two? Is the building number separate from the flat number? Is there a korpus or stroenie that belongs to the building? Is the recipient's phone number complete with the country code? These four checks catch most mistakes we see.

Think about timing as well. A bouquet delivered at 9 a.m. to an office building is usually welcome; the same bouquet delivered to a flat when the recipient is at work is not. If you do not know the person's schedule, the 18-21 window is a safe choice for a home address, and a morning window suits a workplace.

Finally, write the card text in the language your recipient reads best. A short message in Russian, even a simple one, is often what people remember most. If you want help with the wording, the manager can help you agree it when you confirm the order.