Что вы хотите взамен?

• Что = what
• вы = you (either plural or formal singular)
• хотите = want / do you want
• взамен = in return, in exchange

So the sentence literally maps as:

What you want in return?

In natural English: What do you want in return?

Russian does not use a separate auxiliary verb like English do in present-tense questions.

English:

• What do you want?

Russian:

• Что вы хотите?

The verb хотите already carries the meaning you want / do you want, depending on context and intonation.

Вы хотите is the formal or plural form of you want.

Russian has two main ways to say you:

• ты = informal singular
• вы = formal singular or plural

So:

• Что ты хочешь взамен? = What do you want in return? (informal, singular)
• Что вы хотите взамен? = What do you want in return? (formal or plural)

If you are speaking politely to one person, вы is the correct choice.

Хотите is the 2nd person plural / formal singular present-tense form of the verb хотеть (to want).

Conjugation of хотеть:

• я хочу = I want
• ты хочешь = you want
• он/она хочет = he/she wants
• мы хотим = we want
• вы хотите = you want
• они хотят = they want

So вы хотите means you want or do you want, depending on context.

A learner may notice that Russians sometimes say both что вы хотите? and чего вы хотите?

In this sentence, что is the straightforward standard form for what as a direct object:

• Что вы хотите взамен? = What do you want in return?

Чего вы хотите? also exists and is very common in real speech, but it can sound a bit more idiomatic, emotional, or context-dependent. With хотеть, Russian sometimes uses a genitive form, especially in older, idiomatic, or stylistically marked usage.

For learners, что вы хотите...? is the safest and clearest pattern to use.

Взамен means in return, in exchange, or as compensation for something.

It implies that one thing is being given, offered, or lost, and something else is expected back.

Examples:

• Что вы хотите взамен? = What do you want in return?
• Он ничего не попросил взамен. = He didn’t ask for anything in return.

So взамен adds the idea of exchange, not just wanting something in general.

In this sentence, взамен is best understood as an adverb-like word meaning in return.

You may also see взамен used with a noun in the genitive in some contexts, more like instead of:

• взамен помощи = instead of help / in exchange for help

But in Что вы хотите взамен?, it stands on its own and means simply in return.

Yes. В обмен can often be used in a similar way.

For example:

• Что вы хотите взамен?
• Что вы хотите в обмен?

Both can mean What do you want in return?

A small nuance:

• взамен can sound a bit more compact and slightly more formal or bookish in some contexts
• в обмен is also very common and natural

Both are useful, but взамен is perfectly correct and idiomatic here.

Russian word order is more flexible than English word order, because grammatical relationships are often shown by endings rather than position.

The sentence Что вы хотите взамен? is the most neutral and natural order:

• Что = the thing being asked about
• вы хотите = you want
• взамен = in return

Other orders are possible, but they may sound marked or emphasize different parts:

• Взамен что вы хотите? = more unusual, stronger focus on in return
• Что взамен вы хотите? = possible, but less neutral

So the given order is the standard one learners should use first.

A helpful pronunciation guide is:

Shto vy kha-TEE-tye vzah-MYEN?

More precisely:

• Что sounds like што in normal speech
• вы = vy
• хотите = kha-TEE-tye
• взамен = vza-MYEN

Stress:

• хоти́те
• взаме́н

So the stressed syllables are: Что вы хоти́те взаме́н?

Yes, sometimes Russian drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form.

So you can hear:

• Что хотите взамен?

This still means What do you want in return?

However, including вы can make the sentence clearer or slightly more explicit. In polite speech, both versions are possible:

• Что вы хотите взамен?
• Что хотите взамен?

The full version with вы is especially good for learners because it is easier to parse.

By itself, it is generally neutral to polite, because it uses вы.

Whether it sounds warm, cold, suspicious, or businesslike depends mostly on:

• tone of voice
• situation
• facial expression
• surrounding sentences

For example:

• in a negotiation, it sounds natural
• in a dramatic scene, it can sound tense
• in a polite conversation, it can simply mean What would you like in return?

So grammatically it is not rude.

Yes, and it means something slightly different depending on context.

• Что вы хотите взамен? = What do you want in return?
• Что вы хотите за это? = What do you want for this?

За это is often used when talking about a price, payment, or reward for a specific thing.

Взамен focuses more on exchange or return.

So they can overlap, but they are not always identical in nuance.