Где вы родились?

Russian asks this with the verb родиться, which means to be born. Since being born is a completed event in the past, Russian uses the past tense:

• Где вы родились? = Where were you born?

Russian does not normally use a separate word for were here the way English does. The idea of were born is contained in родились.

Word by word:

• Где = where
• вы = you
  
  • either you plural
  • or you singular in a polite/formal way
• родились = were born

So the sentence is literally something like:

• Where you were-born?

But the natural English translation is:

• Where were you born?

Вы is used:

• for more than one person
• or for one person in a polite/formal way

So Где вы родились? can mean:

• Where were you born? (formal, to one person)
• Where were you born? (to several people)

If you are speaking to one friend, child, or someone you know well, you would usually say:

• Где ты родился? — to a man/boy
• Где ты родилась? — to a woman/girl

So вы is about politeness or plurality, not gender.

There are two important things happening in родились:

1. -ли- shows the past plural form
2. -сь is the reflexive ending

The past tense of Russian verbs agrees with the subject in gender/number, not person. Since вы takes the plural past form, we get:

• вы родились

This is true even when вы is polite singular. Russian still uses the plural past form with polite вы.

Compare:

• ты родился / родилась
• вы родились

Yes. The dictionary form is родиться.

This verb is commonly translated as to be born. The -ся / -сь is part of the verb itself. In this case, it is best learned as part of the whole word rather than translated literally as self.

Compare:

• родить = to give birth to
• родиться = to be born

So:

• Мать родила сына. = The mother gave birth to a son.
• Сын родился в Москве. = The son was born in Moscow.

For learners, the safest approach is to memorize родиться = to be born as a complete verb.

Because Russian expresses this idea differently.

English uses:

• were
  • born

Russian uses:

• one verb: родиться in the past tense

So Russian does not say something like Where were you born? with a separate verb to be in the past. Instead, it simply says:

• Где вы родились?

This is a very common pattern where Russian and English structure the same idea differently.

Not in this sentence.

With вы, the past tense uses the plural form родились, so gender is not shown.

But with ты or я, gender does appear in the past tense:

• Я родился = I was born (said by a male)

• Я родилась = I was born (said by a female)

• Ты родился? = Were you born? (to a male)
• Ты родилась? = Were you born? (to a female)

So Где вы родились? is convenient because it avoids showing gender.

Yes, you could say Вы где родились?, but the most neutral and standard order is:

• Где вы родились?

Russian word order is more flexible than English word order, but changing it often changes the focus or emphasis.

• Где вы родились? = neutral, standard
• Вы где родились? = more conversational; extra focus on you
• Родились вы где? = possible, but marked and unusual in normal conversation

For learners, Где вы родились? is the best version to use.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Где ≈ gdye
• вы ≈ vɨ (there is no exact English vowel here)
• родились ≈ ra-dee-LEES'

The stress is on the last и in родились:

• ро-ди-ЛИсь

A rough full pronunciation:

• gdye vy ra-dee-LEES'

A couple of notes:

• Где begins with a consonant cluster that may feel awkward at first.
• ы in вы is a Russian vowel that English does not really have.
• The final сь is soft.

A common answer pattern is:

• Я родился в ... — if the speaker is male
• Я родилась в ... — if the speaker is female

Examples:

• Я родился в Москве. = I was born in Moscow.
• Я родилась в России. = I was born in Russia.
• Я родился в маленьком городе. = I was born in a small town.

Most often, place names after this go with в:

• в Москве
• в России
• в Санкт-Петербурге

The dictionary form is родиться.

This is the infinitive, meaning to be born.

Here is the connection:

• родиться = infinitive
• родился = past, masculine singular
• родилась = past, feminine singular
• родилось = past, neuter singular
• родились = past plural

So in Где вы родились?, the form родились is the past plural form of родиться.

It is generally neutral-polite because of вы.

It is perfectly normal in:

• interviews
• first meetings
• speaking to adults you do not know well
• polite conversation

It is not excessively formal; it is just the standard polite way to ask.

If you wanted the informal version with a friend, you would switch to ты:

• Где ты родился?
• Где ты родилась?

So the sentence itself is very natural and commonly used.