Different words and phrases to attract someone’s attention in Russian
Imagine. You have finally arrived to Russia for your first time. You decided to have a walk and got a little bit lost. You want to ask someone for help but you don’t know how to politely get their attention. Of course, you can try to say it in English but not so many people speak English in Russia. In any case, it’s always good to know how to address people in Russian. And I am sure you will be surprised to see how many different ways exist for that purpose in Russian.
Good news – I have compiled all these various words and expressions in one video – How to get someone’s attention in Russian. Just watch it, take notes and check yourself in the end. The quiz is given below the video summary. Enjoy!
Here is what you will learn from this post (click for a quick access):
Impersonal ways to address people in Russian;
Gender-specific ways to address a female stranger in Russian;
Gender-specific ways to address male stranger in Russian;
Official forms to get someone’s attention in Russian;
Slang forms to get someone’s attention in Russian;
Test “How to get someone’s attention in Russian?”
Before watching this video, I also recommend you to watch a video on how to introduce yourself in Russian.
Free Russian Video Lesson “How to get someone’s attention in Russian”
Here are different ways to address someone in Russian:
Impersonal ways to address people in Russian
1) Извини́те (izvinite) – Excuse me
ИЗВИНИТЕ is a polite and formal way to get someone’s attention.
It is impersonal and can be used to get attention of any person or people whose names you don’t know. It is usually followed by a request or a question.
извини́те (formal)
извини́ (informal)
Извини́те меня́, пожа́луйста (izvinite minyá pazhálsta) – Excuse me, please (formal)
Извини́ меня́, пожа́луйста (izvini minyá pazhálsta) – Excuse me, please (informal)
2) Прости́те (Prastite) – I beg your pardon
ПРОСТИТЕ is another polite and formal way to get someone’s attention.
It has a stronger meaning and shows that one is really sorry to bother another person.
Notice that a word ПРОСТИТЕ is also used when one feels sorry about something already done and he/she wants to apologize for that.
Прости́те меня́, пожа́луйста (prastite minyá pazhálsta) – I beg your pardon, please (formal)
Прости́ меня́, пожа́луйста (prasti minyá pazhálsta) – I beg your pardon, please (informal)
3) Мо́жно вас? (mózhna vas) – May I have a word with you?
МОЖНО ВАС? – a polite and formal way to get someone’s attention
It can be used either separately or be followed after another expression like ИЗВИНИТЕ, ПРОСТИТЕ and some gender/job specific words
Мо́жно тебя́? (mózhna tibyá) – May I have a word with you?
МОЖНО ТЕБЯ? – a polite and informal way to get attention of smb you know
It can be used either separately or be followed after another expression like ИЗВИНИ, ПРОСТИ or a name
Извини́те (пожалуйста)
Прости́те (пожалуйста)
Мо́жно вас?
These expressions can be used with any strangers, service workers. They are impersonal and polite.
Gender-specific ways to address a female stranger in Russian
1) Де́вушка (dévushka) – Young lady
ДЕВУШКА (young lady) is the most common way to address a woman whose name you don’t know: shop assistant, waitress, female bypasser and so on.
It is a tricky word because there is no general rule to say until what age you can call a woman
ДЕВУШКА (young lady)
While some middle-aged women would take this word as a compliment, others might consider it as sarcasm.
2) Же́нщина (zhénchshina) -Woman
Nobody knows when it is ok to call a woman ЖЕНЩИНА.
This word has rather a negative nature as it refers to the age and implies that a woman does not look young anymore.
Many women can take a word ЖЕНЩИНА addressed to them as the worst offence.
Though there is nothing wrong with this word itself as it signifies a gender.
Just avoid using a word ЖЕНЩИНА to address to women of any age as it sounds somewhat rude and you can never know what a Russian woman can do or tell you in revenge.
3) Ба́бушка (bábushka) – Old lady / grandmother
БАБУШКА (old lady) can be used to address an old lady (approximately starting from the age of 70). There are other different forms of this word to address to old ladies.
There are many cute / affectionate ways to address old ladies in Russian:
– Бабу́ля, бабу́ль
– Бабу́ська
– Бабу́лька
– Стару́шка
4) Де́вочка (Dévachka) – Girl (child)
Some old Russian ladies can address young ladies as ДОЧКА (daughter) in a friendly way.
5) As for kids, they can address middle-aged and old ladies as ТЁТЯ (literally – aunt) or ТЁТЕНЬКА (Mrs) in a friendly way.
Gender-specific ways to address male stranger in Russian
1) Молодо́й челове́к (maladói chelavék) – Young man
МОЛОДОЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК (young man) is the most common way to address a man whose name you don’t know: shop assistant, waiter, male bypasser and so on.
Just as a word ДЕВУШКА (young lady), МОЛОДОЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК is a gender-based form to address a young man.
2) Other variations of МОЛОДОЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК (better not to use to address, slang):
Па́рень (guy)
Паренёк
3) Мужчи́на (muchshina) – Man
МУЖЧИНА (man) – can be addressed to a middle-aged man
However, any middle-aged man would take as a compliment to be addressed as МОЛОДОЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК instead of МУЖЧИНА
4) Де́душка (Dédushka) – Old man / grandfather
ДЕДУШКА (old man) can be used to address an old man (approximately starting from the age of 70).
To address young male kids you shouldn’t use МОЛОДОЙ ЧЕЛОВЕК (young man)
5) Ма́льчик (mal’chik) – Boy
As for kids, they can address middle-aged and old men as ДЯДЯ (literally – uncle) or ДЯДЕНЬКА (Mr) in a friendly way.
Official forms to get someone’s attention in Russian
1) Господи́н (Mister) is mainly used in official correspondence
Can also be used in speech to address:
– high officials (Господин президент);
– some people in authority;
– business communication.
Female form of ГОСПОДИН is ГОСПОЖА (Missus) mainly used in official correspondence.
2) Да́мы и господа́ (dámy i gaspadá) – Ladies and Gentlemen is used to address an audience of people.
ДАМЫ И ГОСПОДА is usually used at concerts, official meetings, conferences, public events.
3) Граждани́н (m) (grazhdanin)
Гражда́нка (f) (grazhdánka)
Very formal, was used in Soviet times to address to people.
Brings to mind pictures of Soviet police.
Nowadays it is used to specify citizenship of a person.
Ex.: Он гражданин России (He is a citizen of Russia)
4) Това́рищ (comrade). This word was used in Soviet times as unisex and democratic way of addressing people in order to eliminate all social and gender differences.
No longer used in everyday speech. Used by military men to address individuals by ranks.
5) Ребя́та (ribyáta) – Guys
– A group of your friends or acquaintances;
– A group of children (whether you know them or not);
– Several young people you don’t know
It is commonly used to address children at school or students at university
6) Молоды́е лю́ди (young people) is a less common and more formal way to address to:
– A group of young people you don’t know (both women and men)
Slang forms to get someone’s attention in Russian
If you come to Russia, you might notice that some people address others as БРАТ (brother) or СЕСТРА (sister) even though they are not relatives and may not even know each other.
When you are in Russia don’t walk at night and beware people shouting “Эй”, “Слышь” and other informal ways to get your attention. It might be dangerous.
Чувáк (chuvák) is a popular Russian slang word that means DUDE. Don’t use it with strangers and people you don’t know well.
If you have recently started to learn Russian language, you should absolutely have my free guide ‘Essential Russian Words and Expressions to Understand Spoken Russian’.
It’s also very important to know how to pronounce Russian words correctly as not every Russian letter is pronounced the same way as it’s written. There are certain Russian pronunciation rules that are really easy to learn.
If you wish to speak Russian, you should absolutely learn how to use Russian cases. Check the most comprehensive guides to Russian cases:
