Передавай привет.

Literally, it means something like Pass on a greeting or Convey hello.

In natural English, it is often translated as:

• Say hi
• Give my regards
• Tell them I said hi

The exact English wording depends on context, but the Russian phrase is a very common, natural way to ask someone to pass your greeting to another person.

Передавать is the infinitive, meaning to pass on / to convey.

Передавай is the imperative form, used when telling someone to do something. So:

• передавать = to pass on
• передавай = pass on! / say hi!

So the sentence is a command or request, addressed to one person informally.

That -ай ending is a common way to form the informal singular imperative of many Russian verbs.

Here:

• infinitive: передавать
• stem used for the imperative: передава-
• imperative: передавай

It means you are speaking to one person whom you address with ты.

This is a very common learner question, because both can often be translated similarly.

• Передавай привет = imperfective imperative
• Передай привет = perfective imperative

A simple way to think about the difference:

• Передай привет often sounds like Make sure you pass it on / do it once
• Передавай привет can sound softer, more casual, or like pass on my greetings whenever appropriate

In real life, both are common. Very roughly:

• Передай привет маме = Say hi to Mom
• Передавай привет маме = Give Mom my regards / Say hi to Mom for me

The imperfective command can feel a bit less like a single completed task and more like a friendly ongoing instruction.

In Передавай привет, the person receiving the greeting is simply not stated, but can be understood from context.

You can add that person in the dative case:

• Передавай привет маме. = Say hi to Mom.
• Передавай привет брату. = Say hi to your brother.
• Передавай привет Анне. = Say hi to Anna.

So the full pattern is often:

Передавай привет + dative person

Because привет is the direct object of передавать here, so it appears in the accusative case.

For this noun, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative:

• nominative: привет
• accusative: привет

So in Передавай привет, привет is the thing being passed on: the greeting itself.

Russian often leaves that idea unstated because it is obvious from context: if I tell you to greet someone, it is naturally understood as from me.

So Передавай привет already implies something like:

• Pass on my hello
• Say hi from me

If you want to make it explicit, you can say:

• Передавай привет от меня. = Say hi from me.
• Передавай ему привет от меня. = Give him my regards.

Yes. Передавай is the imperative for one person informally: ты.

If you are speaking:

• politely to one person, or
• to several people,

use Передавайте привет.

So:

• Передавай привет = informal singular
• Передавайте привет = formal singular or plural

It is very often a friendly, conversational request, not a harsh command.

Russian imperatives are used more broadly than English imperatives. In English, Pass on my greeting can sound stiff or commanding, but in Russian Передавай привет can sound warm and natural, especially among friends or family.

Tone depends a lot on intonation and context.

Yes, but Передавай привет is the most neutral order.

Russian word order is flexible, so you may also hear:

• Привет передавай.

That version can sound a bit more marked, as if emphasizing the greeting. But for learners, the safest and most standard version is:

Передавай привет.

A very useful pattern is:

Передавай привет + recipient in dative + от кого

Examples:

• Передавай привет маме. = Say hi to Mom.
• Передавай привет маме от меня. = Say hi to Mom from me.
• Передавай привет Саше от нас. = Give Sasha our regards.
• Передавай ему привет. = Say hi to him.
• Передавай ей привет от Оли. = Say hi to her from Olya.

So you can build the phrase quite easily once you know the pattern.

The stress is:

• передава́й
• приве́т

So: передава́й приве́т

A rough English-style approximation would be: pyeredaVAI priVYET

A few pronunciation notes:

• The final -й in передавай sounds like y in boy.
• Unstressed vowels in Russian are reduced, so the first е and some а sounds are not pronounced as clearly as they are written.
• привет has a clear stress on the second syllable: -ве́т.

Yes, very common.

Native speakers often use it when ending a conversation and referring to family, friends, or mutual acquaintances:

• Передавай привет родителям. = Say hi to your parents.
• Передавай привет всем. = Say hi to everyone.
• Передавай привет Маше. = Say hi to Masha.

It is a very natural phrase to remember and use.