The article discusses basic lexical elements referring to the concept of truth in English, German and Russian languages. The evidence is taken from the works by W. Shakespeare, J. V. von Goethe and A. S. Pushkin and their translated versions. The comparative textual analysis found regular correspondences between the words ‘truth’, ‘Wahrheit’, and ‘правда’ / ‘истина’. Russian words ‘правда’ and ‘истина’ are normally used in diferent conceptual spheres. This diference is accommodated in English and German by various lexical and syntactic markers. At the same time, ‘правда’ and ‘истина’ share a number of common semantic features with the German ‘Wahrheit’ and English ‘truth’.