No. 101 in Russian
стал
"Stal" means "became" (past tense of "to become").
In a sentence
После окончания школы он стал врачом.
After finishing school, he became a doctor.
Here, 'стал' is used as a past tense of 'становиться', indicating that someone took on a new role (became).
Старый дом стал рушиться от сильного ветра.
The old house began to collapse due to the strong wind.
In this sentence, 'стал' is used to indicate the beginning of an action, often followed by an infinitive.
Он стал ближе к цели, но еще нужно немного усилий.
He got closer to the goal, but still needs some more effort.
Here, 'стал' could be interpreted in a figurative or metaphorical sense, suggesting progress toward a goal.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “стал” in actual Russian podcasts.
Find “стал” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Russian podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into русский, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Russian books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).