Как вас зовут? - but only if you're being polite. With friends, it's Как тебя зовут? Picking the wrong one is the first lesson in Russia's ты/вы social code.
The moment you ask someone's name, you're making a social decision: вас (formal you) or тебя (informal you). This is the ты/вы distinction - one of the most important social codes in Russian.
Use Как вас зовут? with: strangers, older people, anyone in a professional setting, your partner's parents, service workers, anyone you'd address as "Mr./Mrs." in English.
Use Как тебя зовут? with: children, friends of friends at a party, peers in a casual setting, classmates, someone your age at a bar.
When in doubt, use вас. Nobody has ever been offended by excessive politeness. The other person will tell you "Давай на ты" (Let's use ты) when they're ready to be informal.
Both questions use the same structure: Как (how) + [accusative pronoun] + зовут (they call). The only word that changes is the pronoun: вас (you, formal - accusative of вы) vs тебя (you, informal - accusative of ты). This accusative pattern runs through all Russian introductions: Меня зовут... (me = меня), Его зовут... (him = его), Её зовут... (her = её). One structure, six pronouns - and you can introduce or ask about anyone.
Name-asking doesn't happen in isolation. Here's the typical flow.
| Russian | Pronunciation | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Как вас зовут? | Kak vas zovut? | "What is your name?" Formal. Default with strangers. |
| Как тебя зовут? | Kak tebya zovut? | "What's your name?" Informal. Peers, children. |
| Меня зовут... | Menya zovut... | "My name is..." The standard response. |
| Очень приятно | Ochen' priyatno | "Very pleased." Follow-up after names are exchanged. |
| А вас? / А тебя? | A vas? / A tebya? | "And you?" Asking back. Formal / informal. |
| Как ваше имя? | Kak vashe imya? | "What is your name?" More formal/written. Less natural than зовут. |
| Давай на ты | Davay na ty | "Let's use ты." Invitation to switch from formal to informal. |
Давай на ты is a moment. Switching from вы to ты is a social milestone - it signals that a relationship has crossed from acquaintance to closeness. In some circles, it's accompanied by a handshake or even a drink. You don't just start using ты - someone proposes it. Usually the older or higher-status person initiates.
Using ты prematurely is rude. Addressing a stranger or older person as ты without being invited is called "тыкать" and it's considered disrespectful. It signals you think you're above them, or that you don't care about social norms. With your partner's Russian parents, keep using вы until they explicitly tell you otherwise. It could take months - or years.
Young people break the rules. Among people under 30, especially in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the ты/вы distinction is relaxing. At parties, co-working spaces, and tech companies, peers often default to ты immediately. But this only applies among age-equals - use вы with anyone significantly older.
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