Usage of personal pronouns ТЫ and ВЫ

The English pronoun YOU can be translated into Russian as either ТЫ or ВЫ. The word ТЫ is simply a singular version of YOU, and the word ВЫ is the plural version of YOU. For example:

Ты преподаватель.              You are a teacher.
Вы преподаватели. You are teachers.

There is an interesting quality about the plural ВЫ in Russian. It is quite often used in place of the singular ТЫ, as in:

Вы преподаватель.                You are a teacher.

In such cases ВЫ is just a polite form of address to a senior, a stranger, or anyone in formal situations. If you use ТЫ in such situations you risk to sound a bit off.

Other sites that teach Russian pronouns: Personal Pronouns




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