Questions & Answers about Здравствуйте! Меня зовут Борис.
Do I pronounce all the letters in Здравствуйте?
No, the first в is silent. The word comes from an old wish to "be healthy," but over time it got shortened in speech. You pronounce it roughly as "Zdrast-vuy-te."
Why does the Russian phrase use Меня зовут instead of "My name is"?
Russian handles names differently than English. Instead of saying "my name is," Russian speakers say "they call me," which is what Меня зовут literally means.
Is Меня the Russian word for "my"?
No, Меня actually means "me." It is the word я (I) changed because the action is happening to you. So the phrase is literally "they call me," not "they call my."
Who is the "they" in зовут (they call)?
There is no specific "they." Russian often uses this "they" form to talk about things in general, similar to how we might say "people call me Boris" in English.
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