Russian Greetings: здравствуйте, привет and Saying Goodbye

Russian greets in two registers, and you choose before you open your mouth: здра́вствуйте (zdravstvuyte) for anyone you would call вы, приве́т (privet) for friends. The rest is a dozen fixed phrases you can learn today and use tomorrow.

The whole system on one screen

The Latin column is a reading aid, not a spelling to learn: it tells you roughly how each phrase sounds while the letters are still new.

Здравствуйте and привет: formal and friendly

Russian has two words for you: ты for one person you know well, вы for a stranger, an older person, anyone at work, or more than one person. The greeting follows the same line, and so do a handful of other phrases. This page colours the two sides.

• Приве́т! - Hi! (to a friend, a classmate, a child)
• Здра́вствуйте! - Hello! (to the shop assistant, the teacher, your friend's mother)

123

1. 1Приве́т!
2. 2Здра́вствуйте!
3. 3Здра́вствуйте!

The woman on the left is greeting. Her friend gets привет; the older stranger gets здравствуйте, and so does a group, even of friends.

Здра́вствуйте is shorter than it looks, because the first в is silent:

• Здра́вствуйте! - Hello! (said ZDRAST-vooy-tye)

In quick speech people clip it further, to something like zdras'te. The word comes from the verb здравствовать, to be healthy, so you are wishing the other person health.

That -те on the end is the вы ending: polite to one person, or speaking to more than one. It comes and goes on other phrases too. Drop it and you are speaking to one friend (friends really do say Здра́вствуй! too, though приве́т is far more common):

Доброе утро, добрый день, добрый вечер

These three are polite and safe with absolutely anyone, which makes them useful while you are still deciding between вы and ты.

1234

1. 1До́брое у́тро!
2. 2До́брый день!
3. 3До́брый ве́чер!
4. 4Споко́йной но́чи!

Morning until about midday, day until about six, evening after that. The last one is only for bedtime: it means sleep well, not hello.

Споко́йной но́чи is not a greeting at all. It means sleep well, so you say it to someone going to bed, never when you arrive at nine at night:

• Споко́йной но́чи, ма́ма! - Good night, Mum! (she is going to bed)
• До́брый ве́чер! - Good evening! (you have just arrived)

Notice that the word for good changes its ending. It is matching the gender of the noun, the first agreement you will meet in Russian, and here you get it free as a fixed phrase:

• До́брое у́тро! - Good morning! (у́тро is neuter)
• До́брый день! - Good afternoon! (день is masculine)

Noun gender explains where the gender comes from.

Как дела? and how to answer

Как дела́? (kak dela) means how are you, literally how are things. It is friendly, and Russians mean it: ask it of people you know, and expect an honest answer.

Then send it back. With a friend it is А у тебя́?, and you? With someone you call вы, the question itself changes too:

• Как у вас дела́? - How are you? (polite)
• Как вы? - How are you? (polite, shorter)

Норма́льно is the most Russian answer on the list. It is a shrug: things are fine, nothing to report. An enthusiastic отли́чно every day can sound slightly suspicious.

Goodbye: до свидания and пока

• До свида́ния! (do svidaniya) - Goodbye! Polite, for anyone.
• Пока́! (poka) - Bye! For friends.
• До за́втра! (do zavtra) - See you tomorrow!

До свида́ния means until the meeting, the same idea as French au revoir. It is the goodbye for the shop, the office, the doctor and your neighbour. Пока́ is the partner of приве́т: if you would say hi, you can say bye.

• Пока́, Бори́с! - Bye, Boris! (a friend)
• Спаси́бо, до свида́ния! - Thank you, goodbye! (leaving a shop)

Спасибо, пожалуйста, извините

Пожа́луйста (pozhaluysta) does three jobs. Native speakers say it fast, closer to pa-ZHAL-sta.

Извини́те (izvinite) is excuse me before a question and sorry after a small accident. Прости́те is a little warmer and more personal:

• Извини́те, где метро́? - Excuse me, where is the metro?
• Ой, прости́те! - Oh, sorry! (you trod on someone's foot)

Your name: меня зовут

Russian does not say my name is. It says me they call: Меня́ зову́т А́нна (menya zovut Anna), literally me they-call Anna.

In formal settings Russians use the first name and the patronymic, a middle name made from the father's name. Teachers and older colleagues are addressed this way, with вы, and it is respectful rather than stiff:

• Ири́на Петро́вна - Irina, daughter of Pyotr
• Здра́вствуйте, Бори́с Ива́нович! - Hello, Boris Ivanovich! (Boris, son of Ivan)

A first conversation, start to finish

Every line is a fixed phrase. You need no grammar to say it, only the right choice of register.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Say здра́вствуйте out loud five times until the silent в feels natural.
2. Decide who in your life gets приве́т and who gets здра́вствуйте.
3. Do the drill below.