Way to Russia Talk Lounge

mountaingirl · Frequent Guest Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Posts: 57

I was wondering...how do you show respect to a older Russian person, or someone in Authority? Like in English we would say, Miss, Misses, Mister/ Ma'am, Sir and so forth. I would appreciate some help Smile

AliceFromMoscow · WayToRussified Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 411

call him\her first and patronymic name

UsualSuspect · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:00 pm Post subject: And...

Mountaingirl,
Don't forget to use "zdrasvuytye" instead of "privet", and use the "vy" form of you. You can always preface a question by saying "pazhalsta" first. It is considered polite.

Something that amazed me was female shop assisstants were addressed almost universally as "dyevushka!" (girl!) whatever their age.

My girlfriend was telling me that the formal "gaspodin/gaspazha" is not used as an honorific any more.

Pardon the phonetic spelling.......

Regards
Usualsuspect

mountaingirl · Frequent Guest Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Posts: 57

Usualsuspect and AlicefromMoscow,
Thanks for your help.
AlicefromMoscow, this is probably a dumb question( Embarassed

), but what is a patronymic name? Does that mean the last name?

Mountaingirl

windmoonstar · Frequent Guest Joined: 09 Aug 2004 Posts: 14

The patronymic is NOT last name. It is a middle name based on the father's first name. For example, if a man named Ivan has a daughter named Natalya her official name would be Natalya Ivanovna, or if his son Sergei, it would be Sergei Ivanovich. The patronymic in Russian is called a 'otchestvo'.
The last name is called a 'familiya'. Note that children would have the same last name as their mother and father but the ending is different depending if its a man or a woman. For example: Sergei Ivanovich Pavlov, but Natalya Ivanovna Pavlova. If a woman gets married she can choose to keep her own last name or change to her husband's last name. The same also applies to a man, he can keep his last name or change to his wife's last name.

mountaingirl · Frequent Guest Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Posts: 57

Oh wow,
Thanks. I knew something about the middle name being the same as the fathers, but you definitly enlighted me on the subject. Thats really fasinating...Mountaingirl

DennisF · Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 2:23 am Post subject: Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate the language tips! My language course still is using the gaspodin/gaspazha terms and includes two others titles for foreigners (originally "master and mistress", I think). I am trying to get get prepared for when I meet face to face with real Russian people (and my soon to be daughter) and this really helps. Thanks! DennisF

AliceFromMoscow · WayToRussified Joined: 10 Jul 2004 Posts: 411

if you call someone gospodin im sure he will stare at you amazed lol.. or laugh )