Red Kalinka Forum

Здравствуйте,

If говорит is the verb to speak to be used with he and she, then what is говорите? Is говорите the formal verb
"to speak"?

Thanks!

Valhalla

hi,

он/ она/ оно/ это ГОВОРИТ

Вы ГОВОРИТЕ

Здравствуйте,

I was getting confused because when I look up how to say "Do you speak Russian", it says "вы говорите по-русски?" And they say говорите is pronounced "gah-vah-Reetzyah" But on your site in the grammar section you have:

Я говорю [gov-ah-rryou]
Ты говоришь [gov-ah-rreesh]
Он / она говорит [gov-ah-rreet]

You don't show говорите anywhere....

I was asking what the difference between говорит and говорите is. It looks like the verb changes forms when you are using it in a question like: "Do you speak Russian" as opposed to making a statement like: "You speak Russian" Is this correct??? Can you elaborate and explain this and/or direct me to where I can lean and understand this?

Спасибо!

Valhalla

привет!

no, in this case the verb doesn't change form when using it in a question like: "Do you speak Russian" as opposed to making a statement like: "You speak Russian". In English, when we adress another person, we use only YOU, but in Russian we can adress someone as ТЫ or ВЫ (Вы is a respectful form of you used mainly to adress older or unfamiliar people), so the verb speak will change its form depending on whether you say "ты" or "Вы". Ты говоришь по-русски. Вы говорите по-русски. Nothing changes if we place a question mark at the end of these sentences.

"gah-vah-Reetzyah" is written in Russian as говорится. It's a passive voice. E.g., в этой статье говорится о ...
Как говорится, лучше поздно, чем никогда.