Подойди ко мне, пожалуйста.

Подойди is the imperative form of подойти, which means to come up to, to approach, or to walk over to someone/something.

So Подойди ко мне means something like:

• Come up to me
• Come over to me
• Walk up to me

It suggests moving toward the speaker until you are near them.

Подойти is the infinitive, meaning to come up / to approach.

Подойди is the command form addressed to one person informally, so it means come up! or come over!

Compare:

• подойти = to come up
• подойди = come up! (said to one person, informal)

Russian uses special imperative forms for commands, just like English uses come instead of to come.

Yes. Подойди is used when speaking to:

• one person
• in an informal way

If you are speaking politely to one person, or to several people, use подойдите.

Compare:

• Подойди ко мне, пожалуйста. = informal singular
• Подойдите ко мне, пожалуйста. = polite singular or plural

This is a very common Russian pattern:

• скажи → informal singular
• скажите → polite/plural

The basic preposition is к, meaning to / toward.

But in some combinations, Russian uses ко instead of к for easier pronunciation. Ко мне is the standard form.

So:

• к = basic preposition
• ко мне = the normal idiomatic combination

You should learn ко мне as a fixed phrase. Other common examples are:

• ко мне = to me
• ко всему = to everything
• ко вторнику = by Tuesday

So this is mostly about pronunciation and established usage.

Because after к / ко, Russian uses the dative case.

The pronoun я means I, but after ко you need the dative form:

• я = I
• мне = to me

So:

• ко мне = to me
• literally: toward me

This is one of the most common case patterns in Russian:

• к брату = to the brother
• к маме = to mom
• ко мне = to me

This is an aspect question.

• подойти / подойди = perfective
• подходить / подходи = imperfective

In commands, the perfective often means do it once / complete the action, so подойди sounds natural for a single request: come over here now.

The imperfective подходи can sound more like:

• come on over
• come up
• feel free to approach
• repeated or more process-oriented, depending on context

In this sentence, подойди is the normal choice for a one-time request to approach the speaker.

They are similar, but not exactly the same.

• Иди сюда = Come here / Walk here
• Подойди ко мне = Come up to me / Come over to me

Иди сюда focuses more on the direction here.

Подойди ко мне focuses more on approaching the speaker personally and ending up near them.

In many situations they are interchangeable, but подойди ко мне can feel slightly more specific: come over to where I am.

Пожалуйста means please here.

It makes the command more polite and softer:

• Подойди ко мне. = Come up to me.
• Подойди ко мне, пожалуйста. = Please come up to me.

Russian often uses пожалуйста with imperatives to avoid sounding too abrupt.

It can also appear in slightly different positions, for example:

• Пожалуйста, подойди ко мне.
• Подойди, пожалуйста, ко мне.

All are possible, though Подойди ко мне, пожалуйста is very natural.

By itself, an imperative can sound direct in Russian, but adding пожалуйста makes it polite.

So Подойди ко мне, пожалуйста is usually:

• polite
• normal
• not rude

However, tone of voice and situation matter a lot. A teacher, parent, friend, or doctor might say this very naturally. Without пожалуйста, it can sound more firm or abrupt, depending on context.

The main stress pattern is:

• подойдИ
• ко мнЕ
• пожАлуйста

So the sentence is pronounced approximately:

padaiy-DI ka MNYE pa-ZHA-luysta

A few pronunciation notes:

• The unstressed о in Russian often sounds closer to a.
• мне is one syllable.
• йд in подойди can be tricky for learners, so it helps to practice slowly: по-дой-ди.

Grammatically, that is close, but in natural English Approach me, please sounds unusual or overly formal in most everyday situations.

A more natural English rendering is usually:

• Come over to me, please
• Come up to me, please
• Walk over to me, please

So yes, approach captures the core meaning, but it is usually not the best everyday English translation.

In подойти, the prefix под- adds the idea of coming up to something or someone.

Compare roughly:

• идти = to go / walk
• подойти = to come/go up to, approach

So the prefix helps create the sense of movement toward and up to a target.

This is very common in Russian verbs of motion: prefixes often add meanings like toward, away, into, across, and so on.