Breakdown of Извините, как вас зовут?
извините
excuse me, sorry (polite)
как вас зовут
what is your name (polite)
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Questions & Answers about Извините, как вас зовут?
Why does the Russian sentence use как (how) instead of "what"?
In English, we ask "What is your name?", but Russian approaches this differently. The literal translation of this phrase is "How do they call you?". That is why we use как (how) instead of a word for "what".
I learned that "your" is ваш. Why does this sentence use вас?
Because of how the Russian phrase is built ("How do they call you?"), you are the object receiving the action. вас is the object form of вы (formal or plural "you"). If you used ваш, it would mean "your", which doesn't fit this specific verb.
Doesn't зовут mean "they call"? Who is "they" in this sentence?
Yes, зовут is the "they" form of the verb звать (to call). In Russian, to say what someone is called, you use a generic "they". It doesn't refer to specific people; it just means "How do people generally call you?"
Is this a formal or informal way to ask for someone's name?
This sentence is formal. You can tell because извините is the polite way to say "excuse me", and вас is the polite form of "you". If you were asking a child or someone your own age in a casual setting, you would say извини, как тебя зовут?.