A small set of Russian phrases covers most everyday interaction, and understanding formality levels alongside them avoids an easy early misstep.
| Russian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Привет (privet) | Hi (informal) |
| Здравствуйте (zdravstvuyte) | Hello (formal) |
| Спасибо (spasibo) | Thank you |
| Пожалуйста (pozhaluysta) | Please / you're welcome |
Notice that Russian has genuinely separate informal and formal greetings (privet vs. zdravstvuyte), not just a tone difference — using the informal version with a stranger or an elder can come across as too casual, so defaulting to the formal greeting with people you don't know is the safer habit.
Privet is an informal "hi" used with friends and peers; zdravstvuyte is the formal "hello" used with strangers, elders, or in professional contexts — they're genuinely separate words, not just a tone difference.
Yes — it covers both roles depending on context, similar to how some other European languages use a single word for both.
Zdravstvuyte (the formal greeting) is the safer default with strangers or elders; privet is better reserved for friends and peers.
That's the plan, matching the audio-based approach already used for Tarc's Arabic and Latvian phrase content.
See also: Russian Pronunciation · Russian Vocabulary · Learn Russian