Learn about formal Russian
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Intro |
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| Michael: How does formal Russian work? |
| Saodat: And when is it used? |
| Michael: At RussianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following scenario: Daniel Denisenko, a high-school student, meets the mother of his neighbor friend, Karen Lee. He says, |
| "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Daniel Denisenko: Миссис Ли, как у Вас дела? (Missis Li, kak u Vas dela?) |
| Dialogue |
| Даниил Денисенко: Миссис Ли, как у Вас дела? (Missis Li, kak u Vas dela?) |
| Карен Ли: Хорошо, спасибо. А у тебя? (Khorosho, spasibo. A u tebya?) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Даниил Денисенко: Миссис Ли, как у Вас дела? (Missis Li, kak u Vas dela?) |
| Michael: "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| Карен Ли: Хорошо, спасибо. А у тебя? (Khorosho, spasibo. A u tebya?) |
| Michael: "Fine, thanks. How are you?" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: There are two ways people address each other in the Russian language. The first one is with the informal "you," or |
| Saodat: ты (ty) |
| Michael: and the other one is with the more formal "you," which is |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy) |
| Michael: Which of these two you should use depends on several factors, such as how well you know the other person or how superior or inferior either of you are in terms of age or rank in society. Grammatically speaking, informal Russian means using the singular form of the pronoun "you" when referring to one person. Formal Russian, on the other hand, means using the plural form of "you." |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Daniel says "Mrs. Lee, how are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Миссис Ли, как у Вас дела? (Missis Li, kak u Vas dela?) |
| Michael: You will observe that Daniel Denisenko addressed Karen Lee with |
| Saodat: Вас (Vas) |
| Michael: Perhaps you're wondering where this word came from since we've only discussed two ways to address a person in Russian so far. Well, the formal personal pronoun |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy) |
| Michael: changes to |
| Saodat: Вас (Vas) |
| Michael: in the Genitive, Accusative, and Prepositional cases. In both instances, the word for "you" is in the accusative case; thus, we used |
| Saodat: Вас (Vas) |
| Michael: instead of |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy). |
| Michael: Using the formal personal pronoun is a sign of respect and politeness and should be used when addressing someone superior to you or someone significantly older. You will encounter the formal "you" in Russian mostly in official situations, such as when you're in a business meeting, are doing a transaction at the bank, or speaking with a high-ranking government official. Also, if you know the full name of the other person, you must address them with a combination of their first name and patronymic. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee says "Fine, thanks. How are you?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Хорошо, спасибо. А у тебя? (Khorosho, spasibo. A u tebya?) |
| Michael: The same way in the genitive and accusative cases, |
| Saodat: ты (ty) |
| Michael: changes to |
| Saodat: тебя (tebya?). |
| Michael: If you were cautious, you probably noticed that Karen Lee didn't reply to Daniel in a formal way. This is because, in Russia, adults usually address children and teenagers with the informal |
| Saodat: ты (ty). |
| Michael: Other than that, you can use the informal "you" when having a conversation with a friend or with someone you know very well. For instance, it's acceptable to informally refer to a colleague at work even if there is a huge age difference between the two of you. Family members can also be addressed on this basis, or if someone explicitly told you to call them by the informal |
| Saodat: ты (ty). |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: Let's summarize what we have learned so far. The informal way to say "you" is |
| Saodat: ты (ty), |
| Michael: and its formal counterpart is |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy) |
| Michael: Now, let's try using these two with the following examples. Let's start with this one: |
| Saodat: Спасибо, ты такой милый. (Spasibo, ty takoy milyy.) |
| Michael: "Thank you. You are so nice." Here, we used the informal personal pronoun, |
| Saodat: ты (ty) |
| [SLOW] Спасибо, ты такой милый. (Spasibo, ty takoy milyy.) |
| Michael: Let's try another one. |
| Saodat: Что ты чита́ешь? (Chto ty chitáyesh'?) |
| Michael: "What are you reading?" This is a question you could, for example, ask your friend at work or school, if you see them reading a book. |
| Saodat: [SLOW] Что ты чита́ешь? (Chto ty chitáyesh'?) |
| Michael: This time, let's use the formal personal pronoun. |
| Saodat: Вы звали меня? (Vy zvali menya?) |
| Michael: "Have you called me?" |
| This is a question you may ask your boss, after he called you into his office. |
| Saodat: [SLOW] Вы звали меня? (Vy zvali menya?) |
| Expansion/Contrast |
| Michael: The pronouns |
| Saodat: ты (ty) |
| Michael: and |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy) |
| Michael: aren't always a part of the sentence, and yet they always should be considered while choosing between formal and informal language. When addressing someone in a formal way, the verbs in the sentence should always be conjugated to agree with |
| Saodat: Вы (Vy) |
| Michael: Let's take, for instance, the verb |
| Saodat: принести (prinesti) |
| Michael: meaning "to bring." If you ask someone formally to bring you something, this verb should change to |
| Saodat: принесите (prinesite). |
| Michael: Let's listen to how the sentence should sound, |
| Saodat: Принесите мне эту книгу. (Prinesite mne etu knigu.) |
| Michael: meaning "Bring me this book." |
| Now, listen to how the verb will change, if the sentence becomes informal, |
| Saodat: Принеси мне эту книгу. (Prinesi mne etu knigu.) |
| Michael: So watch out for the verbs, as they make your language either formal or informal. |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion |
| Michael: Did you know that the universal greeting "How are you?" or |
| Saodat: Как дела? (Kak dela?) |
| Michael: in an informal way, or |
| Saodat: Как у вас дела́? (Kak u vas dela?) |
| Michael: in a formal way, is not as popular in Russia as they are in other parts of the world? In places like Moscow, this greeting is used more for breaking the ice, or |
| Saodat: сломать лёд (slomat' lyod) |
| Michael: In short, you only say it when you find yourself running out of words to say or if you don't know what to ask the other person. In Russian, when you ask people how they are, they will not hesitate to tell you what's going on in their lives. "How are you?" may be a simple greeting in English, but, in Russia, it means more than that. That being said, you don't ask this question casually, or |
| Saodat: вскользь (vskol'z') |
| Michael: When you ask this question, it often implies that you are interested in how the person is doing. So, if you're going to use this expression at all, use it only when you're genuinely interested in what the other person is going to share about themselves and when you are willing to take the time to listen. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Saodat: Пока! (Poka!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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