How Are You In Russian

Asking Someone How They Are in Russian

Most people learn one phrase and then use it everywhere, which looks fine on paper but gets awkward fast in real life. The most common phrase is ? (Kak dela?), which translates literally to "How are things?" It's the default. You use it with friends, coworkers you're friendly with, and basically anyone under about sixty who isn't your boss. The response you'll hear most often is (Normal'no) or (Nichego), both meaning roughly "not bad" or "so-so." Russians rarely give an actual health report unless they want to. The direct translation of "How are you?" is ? (Kak vashi dela?) when you're being formal, and ? (Kak tvo dela?) when you're being casual. The pronoun is what changes everything here. Vashi is the plural/formal possessive. Tvo is the singular/informal possessive. Use the wrong one and you've either accidentally insulted someone or sounded like a toddler. I learned this the hard way at a conference in Moscow a few years back. I walked up to a man who looked to be in his late forties and said " ?" because he seemed approachable. He gave me this very particular look — the kind that says you just committed a minor social crime — and replied in full formal sentences like I was his accountant. I switched to formal mid-conversation and we recovered, but I spent the rest of the evening wondering which social cues I'd missed. The rule of thumb: if you're not sure, stick with the formal ? or just skip the whole thing and say (Privet) and move on. No harm done.

There's a version that's even more casual, almost slangy: ? (Kak sam?) — literally "How are you yourself?" This is something you'd say to a buddy you haven't seen in a while. Using it with anyone you just met would make them question your judgment. Conversely, ? (Kak pozhivayete?) is the polite form you'd use with elderly people or in very formal service contexts. It's less common than the standard form but still correct, and hearing it from a younger person sounds either deliberately old-fashioned or sarcastic depending on delivery. When someone asks you ?, the expected exchange is shorter than what English speakers usually give. They ask, you say "," they might ask one follow-up, and then the conversation moves on. If you launch into a detailed explanation of your week, most Russians will feel awkward and don't know how to respond. I once told a colleague in detail about a flight delay and a lost suitcase, and he just kept saying ", " (Yeah, it happens) with this expression that clearly meant he wanted to discuss literally anything else. Keep it brief. That's how it works. The verb (to be) doesn't actually appear in any of these phrases, which trips up English speakers because we're conditioned to expect "How are you?" to have an "are" in it. Russian just uses the prepositional structure with "" (things/matters). There's also ? (Kak tvoyo nastroeniye?) for "How's your mood?" but nobody really says that. It's something you'd see in a textbook or a tourist phrasebook, not in actual conversation.

If you want to ask specifically how someone is feeling physically — like after they've been sick — you'd say ? (Kak ty sebya chuvstvuyesh?). That's a different question entirely and carries the implication that something might actually be wrong. Using it as a general greeting would be weird, same as asking "How do you feel yourself?" to someone you're just saying hi to at the office. There's also the regional variation ? (Kak dela obstroyat?), which means the same thing but sounds slightly more formal and deliberate. You'll hear this more from older speakers or in written correspondence. In speech it can come across as a bit stiff, but it's never wrong. One thing beginners consistently get wrong is the stress pattern. ? is pronounced KAHK dih-LA, with the stress on the second syllable of "dela." Say it as kuhk dih-LAH and you'll sound like you're reading from a beginner's audio track. It's a small thing but it adds up over time. There are free apps and YouTube channels where you can hear native speakers say these phrases in context — just search for the transliteration and filter by recent uploads. The audio quality on older videos tends to be poor, so that helps narrow things down.

If you're learning Russian and want resources, there's no single official source. The Russian-speaking world isn't coordinated the way language learning markets in English are. WordReference and Forvo are useful for checking pronunciation. DeepL handles conversational phrases better than Google Translate, though neither tool is reliable for nuanced social situations. You'll learn more from watching Russian YouTube vlogs or podcasts than from any phrasebook, because that's where you hear people actually using these expressions in real time with real reactions.