Истинная любо́вь к свое́й стране́ немы́слима без любви́ к своемý языкý.
– К. Паустовский
The true love to one’s country is impossible without the love to one’s own language.
– K. Paustovsky
Здрáвствуйте! – Hello! Добро́ пожáловать на кýрсы рýсского языкá – Welcome to the Russian language courses at Living Language. Меня́ зовýт Натáша – My name is Natasha.
I am a native Russian speaker and I am proud to be a member of the Living Language team. From now on, you will see my posts here, at Living Language Blog/Russian, as well as at Living Language Forums/Russian and on Twitter at Twitter/LL_Russian. The stress marks [´] used here refer to the “strong” syllable in a word (they are never printed in authentic Russian materials). Living Language provides more information on the Russian pronunciation in the Essential Russian course materials.
Let’s learn how to say Hello and introduce yourself in Russian
Russians have different ways of saying “Hello” to each other. When new people meet, they always use a formal greeting as opposed to an informal one as would be used between friends/acquaintances and peers of the same age. Formal speech always requires that you address others with the 2nd person formal/plural form of the personal pronoun – Вы (You as in you all) vs. the informal, singular – ты (you). The same 2nd person formal/plural rule applies to the Russian verbs when conjugating them as well as you find it in most greetings and essential expressions.
Readers of William Shakespeare are aware of ‘thou‘ (you – inform./sg.) and ‘thee’ (you as in you all – form./pl.) used in Old English, the distinction which did not make into Modern English after being omitted around the 18th century. Thou still exists in some English dialects but essentially became informal you to represent both singular and plural. Many languages such as French, Spanish, German, and certainly Russian have kept the formal/plural vs. informal/singular forms of speech when addressing in 2nd person.
To greet in Russian in a formal polite way (using the plural number of the greeting expression), you should say: “Здрáвствуйте!” Literal translation: Wishing you health! [ZDRAH-stvәi-ti] vs. the informal “Приве́т!” (Hi! or Hey there!) [pree-VIET]. You will also hear “Здрáвствуй!” among Russians – the singular form of the same polite Hello.
To introduce yourself: Меня́ зовýт Натáлия. – My name is Natalia. Literal translation: Me [they] call Natalia. [mi-NIAH zah-VOOT nә-TAH-li-ia] When Russians introduce themselves, they typically add their patronymic (another part of full names that consists of the father’s first name with a particular suffix) after their first name which confirms that they have yet to establish an informal way of addressing one another. A good transition from the formal First Name + Patronymic would be the following expression: Мо́жно про́сто Натáша. – You can just call me Natasha. [MOZH-nә PRO-stә na-TAH-sha] Russians also prefer to go by their nick names, such as Natasha just as the English speakers do: Bill – short for William, Kate – for Katherine, etc. The nick names are usually shorter than their full counterparts.
Practice introducing yourself on the forum with your full or nick name in Russian (по-ру́сски).
If you have any questions and would like to know more about Russian. Please ask at Twitter or on the forum!
Natasha N. – Натáша Н.
