Different ways to praise someone in Russian
Do you know how to praise someone Russian? How to say that someone is doing a good job? It is actually quite easy. There are several most common words and phrases that you can use to do it.
This post is a part of the video lesson on how to encourage, praise someone and how to wish good luck in Russian. You can find a free Russian video lesson at the bottom of this page (if you haven’t already watched it).
I recommend you to watch a series of these free Russian lessons to learn basis Russian words and phrases, like How to encourage someone in Russian, How to wish good luck to someone in Russian, How to be polite in Russian, etc.
Here are the most common words and phrases to praise someone in Russian:
Молодец (maladéts) – Well done
It is the most common way to praise someone for good work. Use after someone completes a task successfully or behaves well. Works with children, adults, students.
You can add pronouns to make it more personalized. Ex.: Ты молоде́ц! Вы молоде́ц! Она́ молоде́ц!
You can also add an adjective “большо́й” (big, m), “бо́льшая” (big, f.). Ex.: Он большо́й молоде́ц. Она́ бо́льшая молоде́ц (Really well done)
The plural form of молоде́ц is молодцы́. Ex.: Вы молодцы́ (vy maladtsý)
BUT! As a singular formal it will be молоде́ц. Ex.: “Вы молоде́ц! (vy maladéts)
Its informal variation is Молодчи́на (maladchina)
Умница (úmnitsa) – Good / smart girl
Warm and affectionate. Often used with children or close people to praise intelligence, good decisions, or good behavior.
Ex.: Ты уже́ всё сде́лала? Кака́я ты у́мница! (You have already done everything! You are such a good girl!)
Отли́чная рабо́та! (atlichnaya rabota) — Great job!
More neutral/formal. Use at school, work, or when evaluating someone’s effort or performance.
Краса́вчик (krasáfchik)
Direct meaning: a handsome man. Slang meaning (praise): You rock man!
Use it only with your friends and good acquaintances.
Ты мужи́к (ty muzhik) – You are a real man.
It is another slang compliment for a man to say that he is brave and strong.
Восхища́юсь тобо́й! – I admire you!
Express strong admiration, often for someone’s strength, courage, or moral qualities. Very emotional.
It is good to praise someone but you shouldn’t overpraise because Russian people are afraid to be jinxed even if a person said it with good intentions.
It is believed that some people have “дурной глаз” – an evil eye and they can jinx someone by accident without wishing anything bad.
Russian people usually say “сплюнь” (direct meaning – spit) to someone who was complimenting another person on something that is really important for that person.
And no, you don’t need to really spit. You just need to say “тьфу-тьфу-тьфу” over your left shoulder or knock on wood.
A person who is telling about his projects also can do these gestes not to jinx his or her own future plans. Some parents may forbid you to compliment their small children as they might be afraid of your devil eye (jinx).
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:
