“Ты” or “Вы”? - Addressing the people in Russia

There are two modes of addressing in Russian language - polite “Вы” (Vy) and informal “Ты” (Ty), which you can use depending on the situation.

When to use “Вы” (It is essentially a plural form of "you" used to refer to only one person):

• When you address unfamiliar people (for example at work, in a street)

• In official situations (in a bank, in a business meetings, to the policemen)

• When you keep a polite distance with a person (for example, with a young colleague from another department or with the friends of your friend, which you see the first time and not going to keep a relations with them)

• When you address people at your age in formal situations (in a business meeting, in a hotel, etc.)

• When you address older people.

When to use “Ты”:

• When you address a familiar people (friends, relatives, close colleagues)

• In unofficial situation (in a party, at home)

• When you want to show a warm, friendly attitude to the person (when you have a business lunch with a nice colleague or want get to know better someone).

! Be careful with using "Ты" with a new or older people, or with the people at a higher position - it could sounds too rude and brassily!

• When you address younger people (always use "Ты", addressing children)

• When you address people at your age (in informal situations, in a company of like-minded people, even if you are not familiar with all)

In case of a combination of the mentioned above conditions – for example you are at a home party of your boss or older colleague, or if you are just not sure – always better use polite form “Вы”. Your companion say you if it’s time to use “Ты”.

In case you want to switch to the "Ты" by yourself, always better to ask whether the person don't mind. You can say politely “Мы можем перейти на Ты?” (My mozhim pereiti na «Ty»? – May we switch to the «Ты»? or more familiarly “Может на «Ты»?” (Mozhit na «Ты»? – short form of the “May we switch to the «Ты»?”).

Hope this information was useful for you and make your study of Russian more effective, and let you get more fun from the communicating with Russian friends.

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