What's your name?

Russian Vocabulary • Print version Как тебя зовут?  What is your name?
English	Русский	Notes
What is your name?	как тебя́ зову́т?	X
	как вас зову́т?	O
My name is..	меня́ зову́т..
Your name is..	тебя́ зову́т..	X
	вас зову́т..	O
Nice to meet you.	óчень прия́тно

• "Как тебя зовут?", the phrase used to ask someone's name, translates to "How do they call you?"
• "Очень приятно", means "very pleasant."

Examples

• Как тебя зовут?
  

  What is your name?



• Меня зовут Пётр.
  

  My name is Pyotr.



• Очень приятно.
  

  Nice to meet you.

Grammar

• It should now be obvious that тебя and вас are interchangeable, the former used in casual / familiar settings and the latter in formal settings; вас is also the plural form of "you". An example may be у вас есть хлеб? meaning, "do you have bread?" - being the plural and formal both.

• With the first phrase comes an interesting note. Because the function of words is mostly determined by declension, word order is mostly free. "Меня зовут Пётр" and "Пётр меня зовут" mean the same thing. "Mostly" is highlighted, however, because some combinations do not work, so avoid straying too far from the word order of the examples until later.

Go to the exercise.

[edit]Russian names

Russian names for people are composed of a given name, a patronymic, and a family name. The given name is a person's first name, and is usually chosen by the parents at birth. The patronymic is a derivation of the father's name, modified by gender. The family name is the name shared by the immediate family and passed down by the male descendants, but also modified by gender.

• Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Пу́тин) is Russia's second president.
  • Vladimir is his given name.
  • Vladimirovich is his patronymic. His father was also named Vladimir. If he had a sister, her patronymic would be Vladimirovna (Владимировна).
  • Putin is his family name. His wife, Lyudmila Putina has the feminine version of the name, Putina.
• Maria Yuryevna Sharápova (Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова) is a famous tennis player.
  • Maria is her given name.
  • Yuryevna is her patronymic. Her father was named Yuri. If she had a brother, his patronymic would be Yuryevich (Юрьевич).
  • Sharapova is her family name. Her father's family name is Sharapov.
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