How to address a stranger in Russian? – Clumsily.

And that’s true. There are no such words as ‘madam’ or ‘miss’ or ‘senora’ in the Russian language. You won’t believe it, but Russians like to have long and boring discussions about not having a proper way to address strangers instead of coming up with one. So what do we have now? Things are a bit saner in the Russian language when addressing male strangers.

We have two most common equivalents for ‘mister’ in Russian. They are «молодой человек» and «мужчина». They mean ‘a young man’ and ‘a man’. Fancy addressing somebody like this! ‘Young man, are you the last in the queue?’ («Молодой человек, вы последний?») Or ‘Man, you’ve dropped your wallet!’ («Мужчина, вы уронили кошелек!»).

Russians still address male stangers like this simply because we have become used to it and no longer notice how ugly it sounds.

When a Russian man sees a pretty woman walking down the street, he says: ‘Woman! Don’t walk on by!’

But it is even worse with addressing a female stranger in Russian. In English there is the word ‘girl’, which can be translated in Russian as «девочка» (a child-like girl) and «девушка» (a woman-like girl). We use the last one to address a female whose name we don’t know. It’s kind of ‘miss’ or ‘missis’ in Russian.

But there are some limitations. We can say «девушка» to a woman who is up to 40. Or to a woman who is older, but looks young (and slim). If we say it to someone who is older and doesn’t look 10 or 15 years younger, it’s sheer flattery and not the truth.

So how do you address a stranger in Russian, particularly those women who are older? It’s as easy as pie. Just say – ‘woman’. Yes, that’s it – WOMAN. «Женщина». Yes, you see a woman in the street in Russia, you want to say something to her, and you go: ‘Woman, sorry, are you the last in the queue?’ («Женщина, извините, вы последняя в очереди?»). Yes, Russians are still cave-dwellers at heart in terms of addressing strangers! 🙂

It sounds comparatively ok in Russian when a female stranger you are addressing is older than 55. They are used to the fact that no one addresses them «девушка» anymore.

But to those who are 35 to 55 it sounds… CLUMSY. And so it is. All Russians know that and always feel clumsy saying it to a stranger. The even worse option is to say it along with ‘hello’ with improper intonation.

So when you come to Russia, please address female strangers in your own language. At least they will be curious, rather than offended.

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Free Russian audio lessons online: words, pronunciation, texts. How to address a stranger in Russian? – Clumsily.