Dialogue: A Phone Call

Phone openings are pure ritual — every language has its own fixed moves, and they rarely translate word for word. Russian is a good example: you answer with Алло́, you ask for a person with a verbless Мо́жно + accusative ("may I [have] Anna?"), you identify yourself with Это я ("it's me / speaking"), and you state your business with звоню́ насчёт… ("I'm calling regarding…"). None of these maps cleanly onto English, so it pays to learn them as set pieces. Read the call first, then the line-by-line notes.

The dialogue

Line by line

— Алло́?

Алло́ is the dedicated telephone "hello" — you use it only when answering or checking the line, never to greet someone face to face. The stress is on the final -о́, and the word is borrowed (from the same European "hallo/allo" family). Russians often say it with a rising, questioning intonation, exactly as the spelling here suggests: Алло́?

— Здра́вствуйте, мо́жно А́нну?

After the polite greeting Здра́вствуйте, the caller asks for the person with one of the most useful phone formulas in the language: мо́жно А́нну?

Word for word it is just "possible Anna?", but it means "may I speak to Anna?". Two grammar points hide in those two words:

• мо́жно ("it is possible / allowed; may I…") is an impersonal predicate — it needs no subject and no "to be". On its own Мо́жно? already means "May I? / Is it allowed?".
• А́нну is in the accusative (А́нна → А́нну), because the request elides a verb that takes a direct object — the full thought is Мо́жно (попроси́ть / позва́ть) А́нну? ("May I [ask for / call] Anna?"). The hidden verb is dropped, but it leaves its accusative behind on the name. Since А́нна is animate feminine, the accusative ending is -у.

— Это я. Кто э́то?

The person who picks up answers Это я — literally "It's me / This is me", the standard way to say "speaking". The я stays nominative: Это is the dummy subject ("it"), and after the silent "to be" the predicate pronoun is also nominative (Russian doesn't have an "it's me" object form the way English colloquially does). So it is Это я, never Это меня́.

Кто э́то? — "Who is this? / Who's calling?" Again Кто is nominative ("who"), э́то is the pointing "this", and there is no verb. Compare the presentational Это… in the answers: the same little word это does double duty as both "it/this is…" (statement) and the thing being questioned.

— Это Ива́н. Я звоню́ насчёт встре́чи.

Ivan identifies himself the same way: Это Ива́н ("It's Ivan", nominative Ива́н as the predicate of the silent copula). Then he states his business:

Я звоню́ насчёт встре́чи — "I'm calling about the meeting."

• звоню́ is the 1st-person singular of звони́ть ("to call, to phone"). Note the verb's normal government: звони́ть takes the dative of the person you call — звоню́ тебе́, звоню́ ма́ме ("I'm calling you / mum"). Here, though, there's no person object; instead Ivan gives the topic of the call.
• For the topic, Russian uses насчёт + genitive ("regarding, about, concerning"): насчёт встре́чи (встре́ча → genitive встре́чи). So the verb's dative slot (the person) is empty, and the reason is expressed with a separate prepositional phrase.

— А, Ива́н! Слу́шаю вас.

A warm recognition: А, Ива́н! ("Oh, Ivan!"). Then Слу́шаю вас — literally "(I) am listening to you", a polite phone idiom meaning "go ahead, I'm all ears". Слу́шаю is 1st-person singular of слу́шать ("to listen"), with the subject я dropped (the ending already shows it). вас is the accusative of вы — слу́шать takes a direct object, so the person listened to is accusative, and вас keeps the polite вы register.

— Мы мо́жем перенести́ встре́чу на за́втра?

The request: Мы мо́жем перенести́ встре́чу на за́втра? ("Can we move the meeting to tomorrow?").

• мо́жем (1st-pl of мочь, "can/be able") + the perfective infinitive перенести́ ("to move, reschedule") — perfective because it's a single, decisive change.
• встре́чу is the accusative object (встре́ча → встре́чу).
• на за́втра ("to tomorrow") — на
  • accusative marks the new target time/date for the rescheduling.

Vocabulary gloss

Register note

The call stays on вы throughout: Здра́вствуйте, Слу́шаю вас. Алло́ and Это я are register-neutral (you'd say them to anyone on the phone), but a business or first-name-plus-patronymic call between people who aren't close keeps the polite вы — exactly as here. With a friend you'd hear the same skeleton with ты and a casual opener: Алло́, приве́т! Это я. Слу́шай… The formulas (Алло́, Мо́жно…, Это я, звоню́ насчёт…) stay constant; only the pronouns and greeting shift with register.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Алло́ answers the phone (and only the phone); face to face use Здра́вствуйте / Приве́т.
• Мо́жно + accusative asks for a person, verb dropped: Мо́жно А́нну? / Ива́на? — the accusative is the fossil of the swallowed попроси́ть / позва́ть; animacy sets the ending.
• Это я = "speaking / it's me" (nominative я, never меня́); Кто э́то? = "who's calling?".
• звони́ть takes the dative for the person (звоню́ тебе́); say the topic with насчёт + genitive (насчёт встре́чи).
• The whole routine is formulaic and unlike English — learn the set phrases whole, then swap pronouns by register.