Ты vs Вы in Russian: Informal and Formal "You"

Russian has an informal "you", ты, and a polite one, вы. Use ты with family, friends, children and people your own age in casual settings. Use вы with adults you don't know, older people, teachers, officials and anyone you'd call by name and patronymic. Вы is also the only way to say "you" to more than one person, whether you know them well or not. When in doubt, start with вы.

The quick table

	ты	вы
Who	One person, informal	One person politely, or any group
Present tense	ты знаешь (you know)	вы знаете (you know)
Past tense	ты был, ты была (you were)	вы были (you were), even to one person
Imperative	скажи (tell me)	скажите (tell me)
Object	тебя, тебе	вас, вам
Possessive	твой, твоя, твоё	ваш, ваша, ваше
Hello	Привет! or Здравствуй!	Здравствуйте!

Verb agreement

Вы takes the plural form of the verb, even when you're talking to one person. That's the part learners get wrong most often.

• Ты знаешь, где вокзал? (Do you know where the station is?) to a friend.
• Вы знаете, где вокзал? (Do you know where the station is?) to a stranger.
• Ты был дома? (Were you at home?) to a man you know well.
• Вы были дома? (Were you at home?) to one person politely, man or woman.
• Вы пришли вовремя. (You came on time.)

Short adjectives follow the verb and go plural too: Вы правы. (You're right.) Вы готовы? (Are you ready?)

Full adjectives and nouns are the exception: they agree with the real person. Вы такой добрый. (You're so kind.) to a man, Вы такая добрая. to a woman, Вы такие добрые. to a group.

Everyday phrases in both forms

ты	вы	English
Как тебя зовут?	Как вас зовут?	What's your name?
Как у тебя дела?	Как у вас дела?	How are you?
Спасибо тебе.	Спасибо вам.	Thank you.
Извини.	Извините.	Sorry. Excuse me.
Садись.	Садитесь.	Have a seat.
Это твоя сумка?	Это ваша сумка?	Is this your bag?
Пока!	До свидания!	Bye! Goodbye!

До свидания works with both, пока only with people you'd call ты.

Use вы with

• Adults you don't know: shop staff, waiters, people on the street.
• Older people, teachers, doctors and officials.
• Anyone you address by name and patronymic: Анна Сергеевна, вы не знаете, где ключи? (Anna Sergeyevna, do you happen to know where the keys are?)
• Your boss and colleagues in formal workplaces, until they suggest otherwise.
• In formal letters to one person, вы is often written with a capital letter: Благодарю Вас за помощь. (Thank you for your help.)

Use ты with

• Family, friends and children. An adult says ты to a child; the child says вы to an adult they don't know.
• Classmates and young people, almost from the first word.
• Pets, and God: Russian prayers address God as ты.
• Many online spaces and start-ups, where ты is common.

"На ты" and "на вы"

Russians describe the relationship itself with these phrases.

• Мы на ты. (We say ты to each other.)
• Мы с ним на вы. (He and I say вы to each other.)
• Можно на ты? (Can we say ты?)
• Давай на ты. (Let's say ты.)
• Давайте перейдём на ты. (Let's switch to ты.) The polite давайте fits, because you're still on вы when you ask.

There are verbs for it too: тыкать means saying ты to someone, often with a hint of rudeness, and выкать means saying вы. Не тыкайте мне! (Don't call me ты!) is what an annoyed stranger says.

The moment people switch

The offer to switch usually comes from the older person, the more senior one at work, or, in traditional etiquette, the woman. Among young people it often happens without any discussion. At a party you may still see the old custom of выпить на брудершафт: two people link arms, drink, and from then on they're on ты.

Going back from ты to вы is rare. It signals coldness, a quarrel, or a deliberate return to a formal role, and Russians notice it immediately.

Common mistakes for English speakers

Singular verbs with вы. Вы знаете (you know), not вы знаешь. Вы были (you were), not вы был. One person, plural verb.

Short adjectives in the singular. Вы правы (you're right), not вы прав. Вы готовы? (are you ready?), not вы готов?

Mixing forms in one sentence. Здравствуйте, как у тебя дела? starts politely and slips into ты. Pick one: Здравствуйте, как у вас дела? (Hello, how are you?) or Привет, как у тебя дела? (Hi, how are you?)

Ты with service staff. Saying ты to a waiter or shop assistant you don't know comes across as rude. Use вы and извините.

Forgetting вы for groups. Talking to two friends at once, you say вы: Вы идёте с нами? (Are you coming with us?)

Questions

Do Russians say вы to their parents? Today almost everyone says ты to parents. In classic novels, though, you'll often see children of noble families address their parents as вы.

Can you say ты to a teacher? At school, no: students say вы and use name and patronymic. At university and in language courses for adults, some teachers suggest ты, but it's their offer to make.

Is it rude to start with ты? Between adult strangers, usually yes. Starting with вы is never wrong, and the other person can always offer ты.

Is вы always plural? Grammatically, its verb is. In meaning, it can be one person (polite) or several people (polite or not), and context tells you which.

Keep going

The verb forms in this post come straight from the present tense lesson and the past tense lesson, both with conjugation tables and a quiz. For the German version of the same question, see Du vs Sie.

The classics are full of ты and вы, and the moment two characters switch often tells you more than the dialogue does. Our Learn Russian app takes you from the alphabet and first words through graded reading to Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in full, with a translation under every line. It's free to download, though some books and extra content need diamonds you earn while learning, or Premium.