пожалуйста
“пожалуйста” (pozhaluysta) — please in Russian. Interjection, level A0, topic — polite words. One word for three jobs: please, here you are, and the answer to thank you. English needs two different phrases; this one covers all three. In a live sentence: “Одну воду, пожалуйста” — One still water, please. Written with the characters п, о, ж, а, л, у, й, с, т, а. One of 8 words in the set “polite words” in the Russian course.
In short
| Written in Russian | пожалуйста |
| Read in Latin letters | pozhaluysta |
| Translation | please |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
One word for three jobs: please, here you are, and the answer to thank you. English needs two different phrases; this one covers all three.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Одну воду, пожалуйстаOdnu vodu, pozhaluystaOne still water, please
Nearby words: polite words
“Thank you”, “please” and “sorry” carry you while the rest of the words are still missing: with them even a gesture reads as a request rather than a demand.
- добрый деньdobryy dengood afternoonThe neutral daytime hello, from about noon to six — fine in a shop, on the phone and in email. Literally "kind day".
- спасибоspasibothank youStress it on the end: spa-SI-bo. Turn the volume up with bolshoye spasibo, "many thanks"; among friends it wears down to spasib.
- выvyyou (formal or plural)Polite to one person and plain plural at once — no separate polite form to learn. The verb after it is plural: vy govorite, "you speak".
- повторите, пожалуйстаpovtorite, pozhaluystarepeat, pleaseThe -te ending is the polite "you" built into the verb. The laziest way to ask again is a bare Chto? — "what?".
- извинитеizviniteexcuse meServes both as "sorry" and as the way to stop a stranger in the street — one word where English keeps two.
- подождите минутуpodozhdite minutuwait a minutePodozhdite minutu, pozhaluysta — the polite wait; podozhdi is its informal twin.
- не за чтоne za chtoyou're welcomeLiterally "there is nothing to thank for" — the answer to spasibo. Also "for nothing", as in effort wasted.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “polite words”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “please” in Russian?
One word for three jobs: please, here you are, and the answer to thank you. English needs two different phrases; this one covers all three.
- How do you say “you're welcome” in Russian?
Literally "there is nothing to thank for" — the answer to spasibo. Also "for nothing", as in effort wasted.
- How do you say “wait a minute” in Russian?
Podozhdite minutu, pozhaluysta — the polite wait; podozhdi is its informal twin.
- How do you say “excuse me” in Russian?
Serves both as "sorry" and as the way to stop a stranger in the street — one word where English keeps two.
- How do you say “repeat, please” in Russian?
The -te ending is the polite "you" built into the verb. The laziest way to ask again is a bare Chto? — "what?".
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “please” in Russian?
«пожалуйста», read “pozhaluysta”. In a live sentence: “Одну воду, пожалуйста” — One still water, please. Interjection, level A0, from the set “polite words”; written with the characters п, о, ж, а, л, у, й, с, т, а.
How is “пожалуйста” written in Latin letters?
pozhaluysta. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
One word for three jobs: please, here you are, and the answer to thank you. English needs two different phrases; this one covers all three. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.