When two strangers meet in Russian, three pieces of A1 grammar appear in the very first lines — and they all look strange to an English speaker at once: there is no word for "am", "my name is" comes out as a backwards-looking "they call me", and "from Moscow" forces a case ending onto the city. Rather than meet these as three isolated rules, this page shows them at work in a single natural exchange. Read the whole dialogue first, then the line-by-line commentary.
The dialogue
— Здра́вствуйте! Как вас зову́т?
— Hello! What's your name?
— Меня́ зову́т А́нна. А вас?
— My name is Anna. And you?
— Ива́н. О́чень прия́тно.
— Ivan. Very nice to meet you.
— Мне то́же о́чень прия́тно. Отку́да вы?
— Nice to meet you too. Where are you from?
— Я из Москвы́. А вы?
— I'm from Moscow. And you?
— А я из Петербу́рга.
— And I'm from Petersburg.
Line by line
— Здра́вствуйте! Как вас зову́т?
Здра́вствуйте is the standard polite "hello", and its very form tells you the register: it is the вы-form (the ты-form is Здра́вствуй). Saying it signals that this is a formal, you-don't-know-each-other situation. (The middle -в- is silent in speech — say здрас-tvuy-tye.)
Как вас зову́т? is the fixed way to ask someone's name, and it is worth dissecting because it is not built like English at all. Word for word it is "How you (do) they-call?" — i.e. "How do they call you?":
- зову́т is the 3rd-person plural of звать ("to call"). There is no stated subject; it means an impersonal "they call / one calls".
- вас is the accusative of вы ("you") — the person being called is the object of "they call".
- Как here means "what / how" — Russian asks how one is called, not what one's name is.
- the person in the accusative (вас / меня́ / тебя́). To ask, swap in the question word: Как вас зову́т? "How do they call you?" = "What's your name?"
— Меня́ зову́т А́нна. А вас?
The answer mirrors the question exactly, with меня́ ("me", accusative of я) in place of вас: "They call me Anna." The name А́нна simply tags along in the nominative — it is what "they call" the speaker.
А вас? is an efficient "And you?" — and notice it keeps вас in the accusative, not the nominative вы. Because the full question would be "And how do they call you?", the bounce-back pronoun stays in the case it had in the original question. This is a small but very natural touch: a beginner often says "А вы?", which is understandable but subtly off here.
— Ива́н. О́чень прия́тно.
Ivan answers with just his name (no need to repeat the whole frame) and the fixed greeting О́чень прия́тно — literally "very pleasant / very pleasing", i.e. "(it's) very nice (to meet you)". Note what is missing: there is no "it is", no "to meet you", no verb at all. The phrase is a self-contained formula. You will also hear the fuller О́чень прия́тно познако́миться ("very nice to get acquainted"), but the bare О́чень прия́тно is the everyday default.
— Мне то́же о́чень прия́тно. Отку́да вы?
To say "Nice to meet you too", Russian adds Мне то́же — literally "to me also". The мне is the dative ("to me"), because the underlying sense is "(it is) pleasant to me as well". You don't need to analyze this to use it; Мне то́же о́чень прия́тно is a set reply.
Отку́да вы? asks "Where are you from?" — отку́да means "from where". And here, crucially, the verb is again absent: there is no "are". The sentence is just "From-where you?" Russian does not use a present-tense form of "to be".
— Я из Москвы́. А вы?
This is the line that puts three things on display at once:
- Zero copula. "I am from Moscow" is simply Я из Москвы́ — я ("I") + the phrase, with no "am" in between. Russian has no present-tense "to be"; you place the two halves side by side. (In the past or future the verb reappears: Я был из Москвы́ would be needed for "I was from Moscow".)
- из + genitive for origin. "From X" is из
- the genitive case. Москва́ (nominative) becomes Москвы́ (genitive) after из. The ending -ы is the genitive marker on this feminine noun.
- А вы? bounces the question back, this time correctly in the nominative вы — because the full echo is "And (from where are) you?", where you is the subject of the (silent) "are".
- the place in the genitive: Москва́ → из Москвы́, Росси́я → из Росси́и, Ло́ндон → из Ло́ндона. The matching question word is отку́да? ("from where?"). More on this preposition is on the genitive after prepositions page.
— А я из Петербу́рга.
Ivan answers in the same frame: А я из Петербу́рга ("And I'm from Petersburg"). Again zero copula, again из + genitive — Петербу́рг (masculine, nominative) takes the masculine genitive ending -а → Петербу́рга. Seeing the same pattern produce -ы on a feminine city (Москвы́) and -а on a masculine city (Петербу́рга) is a clean little lesson in how genitive endings track gender.
Why вы all the way through
Both speakers use вы (and its accusative вас) throughout, never ты. This is deliberate and correct: strangers meeting for the first time — especially adults — default to the polite вы. Switching to ты too early reads as over-familiar or even rude. Russians often negotiate the switch explicitly later ("Дава́й на ты?" — "Shall we use ты?"), but a first meeting stays on вы. The dialogue thus also models register: the grammar of вы (plural-form verbs, the pronoun вас) signals respectful distance. See navigating ты and вы for when and how the switch happens.
Vocabulary gloss
| Word / phrase | Meaning | Note |
|---|---|---|
| здра́вствуйте | hello (formal) | вы-form; ты-form is здра́вствуй; middle -в- silent |
| как | how / what | "how" in the name question |
| вас | you (accusative of вы) | object of "they call" |
| меня́ | me (accusative of я) | object of "they call" |
| зову́т | (they) call | 3rd-pl. of звать; impersonal "one calls" |
| о́чень прия́тно | nice to meet you | fixed formula; lit. "very pleasant" |
| мне то́же | me too / likewise | мне = dative "to me" |
| отку́да | from where | asks for origin |
| из | from (out of) | takes the genitive case |
| Москвы́ | (from) Moscow | genitive of Москва́; fem. -ы |
| Петербу́рга | (from) Petersburg | genitive of Петербу́рг; masc. -а |
| а | and / but (contrast) | here "and (what about) you?" |
Common Mistakes
❌ Я есть из Москвы́.
Incorrect — Russian has no present-tense 'to be'; drop есть. Just Я из Москвы́.
✅ Я из Москвы́.
I'm from Moscow.
❌ Я из Москва́.
Incorrect — из needs the genitive, so Москва́ → Москвы́.
✅ Я из Москвы́.
I'm from Moscow.
❌ Как вы зову́т?
Incorrect — the person named is the OBJECT, so use accusative вас, not nominative вы.
✅ Как вас зову́т?
What's your name?
❌ Моё и́мя А́нна. (as a default introduction)
Understandable but unidiomatic — Russians say Меня́ зову́т А́нна, not a calque of 'my name is'.
✅ Меня́ зову́т А́нна.
My name is Anna.
❌ Как тебя́ зову́т? (to a stranger you've just met, formal setting)
Off-register — a first meeting uses вы: Как вас зову́т? тебя́ is for friends/children.
✅ Как вас зову́т?
What's your name? (polite)
Key Takeaways
- Zero copula: no present-tense "to be" — Я из Москвы́, О́чень прия́тно. Don't insert "am/is/are" or есть.
- Меня́ зову́т X = "my name is X", literally "(they) call me X": 3rd-pl. зову́т
- accusative person (меня́ / тебя́ / вас). Ask with Как вас зову́т?
- из + genitive for origin: Москва́ → из Москвы́, Петербу́рг → из Петербу́рга; the question word is отку́да?
- A first meeting stays on the polite вы (pronoun object вас); ты is for friends and children.
- The bounce-back А вас? keeps the case of the original question (accusative), while А вы? is the nominative echo of a subject — small, natural details worth copying.
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Start learning Russian→Related Topics
- Nominal Sentences and the DashA2 — Russian says 'X is Y' with no verb in the present tense — the copula is simply absent (Я студе́нт). When both halves are nouns, a dash stands in for the missing verb (Москва́ — столи́ца Росси́и). In the past and future the verb reappears as был/бу́дет, and — the feature that catches every English speaker — the predicate noun then goes into the INSTRUMENTAL case (Он был врачо́м), not the nominative.
- Inserting 'To Be' in the PresentA1 — The number-one beginner error: putting a present-tense 'to be' into a Russian sentence. English forces 'is/am/are', so learners reach for есть or быть and write Я есть студе́нт or Москва́ есть столи́ца. Russian has NO present copula — you say Я студе́нт, and where both halves are nouns a dash fills the gap (Москва́ — столи́ца). This page shows the zero-copula present, when есть genuinely IS used (existence and possession: У меня́ есть…, Здесь есть…), and that the past and future DO take был / бу́ду.
- Navigating Ты and Вы in PracticeB1 — The social side of ты and вы beyond the grammar: who gets which, how the switch-to-ты ritual works and who proposes it, why there is no safe default, and how a single wrong choice reads as cold or rude — plus the generational and online softening that is loosening the system.
- Introducing YourselfA1 — The self-introduction routine — and why it secretly drills four A1 cornerstones at once: Меня́ зову́т + name (accusative меня́ 'me' + the name in the NOMINATIVE), Я из + GENITIVE for origin (Я из Аме́рики), the zero copula for profession (Я студе́нт, no 'am'), and Мне + number + лет for age (DATIVE), closed off with the fixed О́чень прия́тно.
- Genitive After Prepositions (без, для, до, из, от, у, около, после)A2 — Most of the genitive you'll ever use is triggered by prepositions: без са́хара (without sugar), для тебя́ (for you), до конца́ (until the end), из го́рода (from the city), от врача́ (from the doctor), у окна́ (by the window), о́коло до́ма (near the house), по́сле уро́ка (after the lesson), plus про́тив, вокру́г, кро́ме, среди́, ра́ди, ми́мо. Practising the genitive THROUGH its prepositions builds the form and the construction at once — and the из↔в, от↔к, с↔на 'from/to' symmetry ties them together.
- Dialogue: Introducing Your FamilyA1 — A short, casual family-introduction dialogue — pointing at photos and naming relatives — annotated line by line to show three A1 cornerstones working together: the frozen presentational э́то ('this is') that never agrees with anything, possessive agreement on family nouns (моя́ семья́, мой брат), and the зову́т-naming construction in the third person (его́ зову́т Ива́н), all in the relaxed ты register you'd use with a friend over photos.