Greetings in Russian: formal and informal hello, thank you, goodbye

Здравствуйте or привет: choosing the right hello

Russian divides its greetings by the same line that divides its pronouns. Вы, you in the plural, is also the polite form for one person, used with strangers, business contacts and neighbours; ты is kept for family and close friends, and adults use it to children, who answer with вы. Wiktionary's usage notes on the two pronouns set out this rule. Здравствуйте carries the -те ending of the вы-form and is the hello for a stranger, a shop assistant, a teacher or a group. Здравствуй, without -те, is the ты-form, and привет is the casual hi between friends. Wiktionary labels them formal or plural, informal, and informal-casual in that order.

Здравствуйте is literally an imperative: be healthy. It comes from здравствовать, to be well or to prosper, built on the adjective здравый, sound or healthy. The history also explains the spelling with a silent в: the word is pronounced [ˈzdrastvʊjtʲe], and the first в is not heard.

Привет is an old word, inherited from Old East Slavic привѣтъ, greeting or salutation. It also exists as a noun: передай привет, pass on my regards. The very casual здорово, stressed on the second syllable, is listed by Wiktionary as an informal synonym of здравствуй.

Good morning, good evening and two kinds of good night

The time-of-day greetings are built on добрый, good, which agrees with the noun: доброе утро with the neuter утро, добрый день and добрый вечер with masculine nouns.

Good night needs care, because Russian has two phrases with opposite uses. Wiktionary's usage notes state that спокойной ночи, literally of a calm night, is said on parting, at bedtime, while доброй ночи is a greeting. Both phrases stand in the genitive case, ночи, not the nominative ночь.

For a new year Russian says С Новым годом, with the instrumental case after с: literally with the new year. The Happy New Year in 122 languages page lists it beside Ukrainian and the other Slavic forms.

Thank you, please and how are you

Спасибо grew out of спаси Бог, God save you, in the same way that English goodbye shrank from God be with you. Wiktionary notes the parallel. It takes за with the accusative for what one is thankful for: спасибо за помощь, thanks for the help. A more formal alternative is благодарю, I thank you.

Пожалуйста does three jobs: please when asking, you're welcome in reply to спасибо, and here you are when handing something over. Its spelling hides a й that the main pronunciation in Wiktionary leaves silent, [pɐˈʐaɫʊstə]; the ending -ста was once a politeness clitic that has disappeared from the language.

Как дела? is familiar, how are things. Wiktionary pairs it with как поживаешь? for ты and как поживаете? for вы. Приятно познакомиться, pleased to meet you, closes an introduction, and очень приятно, very pleasant, is a shorter synonym.

Goodbye in Russian

До свидания means until the next meeting and is the neutral goodbye for any situation. Wiktionary compares it with French au revoir and Italian arrivederci, which are built on the same idea of seeing again. Пока, until then, is the colloquial bye among friends; on its own the word means for now, and the farewell sense is short for прощай пока.

Всего хорошего, all the best, and its synonym всего доброго are friendly ways to end a conversation in a shop or on the phone. On the phone itself the call opens with алло, a borrowing from French allô; Wiktionary also gives слушаю, I am listening, as the way to answer.

Common mistakes with greetings in Russian

The register is where greetings in Russian go wrong most easily. Привет to a teacher, a shop assistant or an official uses the ты-world with someone who expects вы; Wiktionary's note on ты adds that using it downwards to strangers, as superiors once did in classical literature, is not accepted today. When unsure, здравствуйте and вы are always correct.

The second trap is the pair of good nights: wishing спокойной ночи to someone who has just arrived turns a greeting into a farewell. A third is answering спасибо with another спасибо; the expected reply is пожалуйста or не за что, nothing to thank for, both given as synonyms in Wiktionary's entry for пожалуйста.