PolyLingo
🇷🇺 Russian
РусскийCyrillic

Politeness & formality (sound respectful fast)

Formality is one of the fastest ways to sound natural in many languages.

What matters most

Вы is formal/plural; ты is informal.

  • When in doubt, choose the more polite form.
  • Memorize one polite question pattern and reuse it everywhere.
Ты здесь?
ty zdes'
Are you here? (informal)
Вы здесь?
vy zdes'
Are you here? (formal/plural)
Я студент.
ya student
I am a student.
Вы говорите по-английски?
vy govorite po-angliyski
Do you speak English? (formal/plural)

Mini challenge

Say your ‘Do you speak…?’ sentence in the polite form, then in the casual form (if your language has both).

Mini‑quiz

Mini-quiz
1/8 • Score: 0
Which sentence matches “Are you here? (informal)”?