Давай is the little cheat word in Russian you can say for virtually any situation. It’s a very casual way of responding to any offer. You can only use it as a response to someone using any of the other goodbyes in this lesson. Want to find lessons where you can read, listen, and save your words? Learn Russian online using content from LingQ’s library.
This is because often when you’re wishing something to someone, you put the thing you wish in the genitive case. “Good morning” in Russian literally means “kind morning”. The Russian word for morning (утро), is neuter gender, so the adjective should also be in the neuter form. This one shouldn’t come as a surprise, as I’m sure you’ve heard Russians speak English before, right?
It also shows that you’d prefer to stay, but unfortunately cannot. I’ve added the stresses and Romanized versions of each word, so even if you don’t know any Russian, you can still pronounce the Russian words. Russian people are always very happy when you learn their native language, so even if you make mistakes here and there, that’s completely okay. It is also used to greet friends and close one and it’s very colloquial and non-standard, probably deriving from the French ‘salut’. In my experience, it is mostly used by older people to greet young people in a non-formal way.
Movie geek turned content writer, Diana is passionate about storytelling, mythology and art history. She is currently exploring the wonderful world of languages at Mondly where she can put her fascination with historical linguistics to good use. Her Master’s Degree in advertising helps her sail smoothly through her responsibilities as a content creator for blogs and social media. Don’t worry about perfect pronunciation at this point.
Привет [pree-VYET], which can be translated into English as “hi”. However, that is not the only way to exchange greetings in Russian. Also, the usage of “privet” is much more limited than its English equivalent. As a learner at the beginning of your Russian language journey, the first things you’re going to need to know are the Russian alphabet and how to say hello and goodbye. ‘Здравствуй’ (pronounced zdràsvui) is another standard way to say “hi’ in Russian that sounds just a tiny little bit more formal than “привет”.
It happens frequently to see these words at the beginning of a chat, but they are not really common in the spoken language. It’s most often used by Russians when picking up the phone. As a foreigner, people don’t expect you to say this word.
Say zdravstvujtye (zdrah-stvooy-tee) to strangers. Zdravstvujtye is the formal way to say “hello” in Russian. If you’re greeting someone you don’t already know, start with a formal greeting – especially if they’re older than you, or in a position rv parks sandpoint of authority. You can see how the words are used in real life in Russian video clips such as movie trailers, commercials and more. Learning a variety of Russian greetings will equip you to start off any conversation on the right foot.