Breakdown of Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль.
Questions & Answers about Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль.
Всем is the dative plural form of все (everyone / all).
- все – nominative plural: all, everyone
- всем – dative plural: to all (of you/them)
In Russian, when you say Спасибо, the person you’re thanking is normally in the dative case:
- Спасибо маме. – Thanks to mom. (мама → маме, dative)
- Спасибо друзьям. – Thanks to (my) friends. (друзья → друзьям, dative)
- Спасибо всем. – Thanks to everyone. (все → всем, dative plural)
So всем is “to everyone,” matching the pattern Спасибо + dative.
Russian very often drops the subject я when it’s obvious from context or grammar.
Also, Спасибо behaves like a fixed expression “Thank you,” not like a full verb sentence. You can think of it as an elliptical structure like:
- Спасибо (вам). – (I say) thank you (to you).
You can use a full verb:
- Я благодарю всех, кто пришёл на спектакль. – I thank everyone who came to the performance.
But in everyday speech and writing, Спасибо всем, … is more natural and less formal than Я благодарю всех, ….
In Russian, a comma is used to separate a relative clause (a subordinate clause introduced by words like кто, который, что when they mean who/that/which).
- Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль.
- Main part: Спасибо всем
- Relative clause: кто пришёл на спектакль – who came to the performance
The relative clause describes всем (everyone), so it is set off with a comma, just like in English:
- Thanks to everyone who came to the performance.
So the comma is obligatory here according to Russian punctuation rules.
In Russian, кто (who) is grammatically singular and usually masculine, no matter how many people it refers to. The verb agrees with кто, not directly with всем.
So grammatically:
- кто пришёл – “who (sg.masc.) came”
Compare:
- Кто пришёл? – Who came?
- Кто это сделал? – Who did this?
Even if the actual group is mixed or all female, кто still normally takes masculine singular past (пришёл).
You do see plural with кто colloquially sometimes (кто пришли), but in standard written Russian кто пришёл is the norm.
Not in standard, correct Russian.
- кто пришёл – grammatically correct, standard
- кто пришли – non‑standard, sometimes heard in colloquial speech but considered incorrect in formal language
Even if you clearly mean a plural group (“all of you”), you still use кто пришёл with кто.
If you really want plural agreement, you’d change the structure, for example:
- Спасибо всем, кто из вас пришли на спектакль.
– Here из вас makes it easier to “hear” пришли, but many editors would still prefer пришёл in written language.
For learners, it’s safest and best to stick with кто пришёл.
Всем and всех are different cases of все:
- всем – dative plural: to all, to everyone
- всех – genitive/accusative plural: of all, all (as an object)
With Спасибо, you need the dative (who you give thanks to):
- ✅ Спасибо всем. – Thanks to everyone.
- ❌ Спасибо всех. – ungrammatical
You’d use всех with verbs that take genitive/accusative:
- Я люблю всех. – I love everyone. (accusative)
- Мне не хватает всех. – I miss everyone / I don’t have everyone. (genitive)
So after Спасибо, always use dative: Спасибо всем, друзьям, родителям, вам, etc.
Пришёл is the masculine singular past tense of the verb прийти (perfective: to come, to arrive).
Past tense forms of прийти:
- Masculine singular: пришёл
- Feminine singular: пришла́
- Neuter singular: пришло́
- Plural (any gender mix): пришли́
Examples:
- Он пришёл на спектакль. – He came to the performance.
- Она пришла на спектакль. – She came to the performance.
- Они пришли на спектакль. – They came to the performance.
In our sentence, the verb agrees with кто, which is grammatically masculine singular, so we get кто пришёл.
Пришёл is:
- Past tense
- Perfective aspect (completed action)
It means the people did come, and the action is viewed as a single, completed event:
- Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль.
– Thank you to everyone who came (and was there).
Приходил is the imperfective past of приходить and can imply:
- repeated / habitual coming, or
- a visit whose result is not emphasized (e.g., they came and left).
Example contrast:
- Он пришёл на спектакль. – He came (and attended; completed, result-focused).
- Он приходил на спектакль. – He (had) come / used to come (focus not on a single, completed attendance).
In this thanking context, you normally want the simple fact “they came,” so пришёл (perfective) is appropriate.
In Russian, на + accusative is often used for events: performances, concerts, lessons, meetings, etc.
Common patterns:
- на спектакль – to a (the) performance
- на концерт – to a concert
- на лекцию – to a lecture
- на урок – to a lesson
- на выставку – to an exhibition
So пришёл на спектакль is “came to the performance.”
Using в спектакль would be wrong here; в is used mainly with places/containers (в театр, в дом, в комнату) or with some abstract nouns, but not with спектакль in this meaning.
Спектакль specifically means a theatrical performance: a play, an opera, ballet, etc., as a staged artistic event with actors or performers.
Roughly:
- спектакль ≈ play / theatrical performance
- шоу ≈ show more broadly (TV show, talent show, stage show, etc.)
- представление can also mean a performance, but is broader and can sound more formal or generic.
So:
- Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль.
– Thanks to everyone who came to the (theater) performance.
If it were a more general entertainment show, you might hear шоу, but for a play at a theater, спектакль is the standard word.
Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль. is neutral and widely usable.
You can say it:
- to friends
- to a theater audience from the stage
- in a social media post
- in semi-formal contexts (e.g., message from a director to visitors)
To adjust the tone:
- More warm / casual:
- Большое спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль!
- Спасибо вам всем, кто пришёл на спектакль!
- More formal:
- Благодарю всех, кто пришёл на спектакль.
But the original version is appropriate for most situations.
Yes, Russian allows some flexibility in word order to change emphasis. All of these are possible:
- Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль. – neutral, most common.
- Спасибо всем, кто на спектакль пришёл. – slightly more emphasis on “to the performance” (contrast: not somewhere else).
The basic structure — Спасибо + dative, then a кто… clause — should stay the same, but inside the clause кто пришёл на спектакль, you can move на спектакль around as long as the sentence stays natural and clear.
For learners, the original order is best to follow.
Stress and key pronunciation points:
Спасибо – spa-SI-bo
- Stress on -си-: спасИбо
- о in the last syllable is pronounced clearly [o]; the first а is reduced (sounds closer to [ɐ]).
всем – [fsʲem]
- One syllable, consonant cluster like “vsyem” but written with в then с.
кто – [kto]
- Both consonants pronounced: /k/ + /t/ at the start.
пришёл – pri-SHÓL
- Stress on -шёл: пришЁл
- ё is always stressed and pronounced “yo” [o] after soft consonants; here it’s [ʂɵl] roughly.
на – [na]
спектакль – spek-TAKLʲ
- Stress on -так-: спектАкль
- Final ль is soft: tongue forward, like “ly”.
- The last ь (soft sign) is not a sound; it just softens л.
So: спасИбо всем, кто пришЁл на спектакль.
Yes. A common alternative uses a participle:
- Спасибо всем, пришедшим на спектакль.
Here:
- пришедшим – a past active participle in the dative plural, agreeing with всем (dative plural).
This sounds a bit more formal/literary.
Compare:
- Спасибо всем, кто пришёл на спектакль. – neutral, very common.
- Спасибо всем, пришедшим на спектакль. – more elevated, “those who came to the performance.”
Both are correct, but the version with кто пришёл is simpler and more typical in everyday language.