Доброе утро, друзья! Good morning, friends!
Welcome to Episode N5 of Spoonfed Russian! Today we will learn Russian greetings and simple dialogs. You will know the difference between speaking officially and friendly.

Before we start:

• download Episode 5 – Greetings and Farewells (pdf);
• and follow the topic.

 

 Episode 5 - Greetings and Firewells: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

There are two ways of speaking in Russian: formal (official, You = Вы) and informal (friendly, You = Ты).

Official way:

• in places like business meetings;
• in situations where you have never met the person (in shops, bars, in public transport or with taxi drivers);
• if the person is visibly older than you (but of course, if it’s not your granny).

Friendly way:

• with friends;
• if the person is visibly younger than you.

Few guidelines:

• young people move to the informal Ты very quickly even if they don’t know well each other;
• children and teenagers can be addressed using Ты;
• adults usually use the formal Вы when they first meet, and then move to Ты when they become better acquainted. In such case they will use the phrase: Давайте на ты? (Let’s start using ты?) or Можно на ты? (May we use ты?)

Now please open the file with the Episode N5 and repeat dialogues after me.

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This is all for today. If you have any questions, please ask. До скорой встречи! Пока-пока.