How do you say "How are you?" in Russian – and how do you reply? This lesson gives you some useful Russian words and phrases to pack in your Russian language survival kit.
You’ll also learn the formal and informal Russian for asking people how they are – important stuff if you want to make the right first impression.
And just in case you need to apologize, you’ll learn how to say sorry in Russian as well!
Resources for further reading:
After you greet someone, you’ll want to ask how they are or how’s it going. Here are some common questions that follow a greeting.
For friends or family:
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Russian pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
Как дела?
Kak dila?
How are you? (informal) (literally “how are things?”)
For more senior people:
Как вы поживаете?
Kak vy pazhivaite?
How are you?
What do you say if someone asks you how you are?
Спасибо, хорошо
Spaseeba, kharasho
I'm fine, thanks
Очень хорошо
Ochin’ harasho
Very well
Как всегда
Kak fsigda
As always
Немного устал / Немного устала
Nimnoga ustal (m) / Nimnoga ustala (f)
A little tired
Неважно
Nevazhna
I'm not well
Ничего
Nichivo
So-so
Нормально
Narmal’na
Not bad
Плохо
Ploha
Bad
Всë хорошо
Fsio harasho
All good / Everything is going well
Прекрасно
Prekrasna
Great
A common follow-up question is А вы? (A vy?) "And you?"
А вы?
A vy?
And you?
If someone tells you that he or she is not feeling well you could say the following…
Как жаль
Kak zhal’
What a shame
If someone is feeling great you might want to say the following…
Хорошо
Harasho
That's good
Рад слышать / Рада слышать
Rad slyshat’ (m) / Rada slyshat’ (f)
Nice to hear that
Finally, here are three important phrases that you absolutely must know in any language. They are:
Извините
Izvineeti
I'm sorry
Я тебя люблю
Ya tibya liublyoo
I love you
Мне нужна помощь
Mne nuzhna pomashch
I need help
Hmm, I can’t think of a situation in which I’d need to use all three, but I’ll leave it to your imagination! That’s it for today’s lesson.
Find out about asking Russian questions in this series of lessons. Make sure you listen to the audio and practice your Russian pronunciation. And do the Russian tests at the end of each lesson to reinforce your knowledge of Russian questions!
До скорого! (da skorava)
Natalya Dubrov: Rocket Russian
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!