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SUBJECT 2.
WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
or
HOW ARE YOU CALLED?
The choice of the first
practical subject Is not accidental. This Is what helps you to
begin any conversation, small or big talk, with practically all kinds of people anywhere In
the world.
When
you meet a new person, you will most certainly ask him/her: "What Is your
name?"
Как тебя зовут? [`kak te-`bya za-`vut]. The Russian word for "name" is
имя
[`i-mya]. There is no such word in the suggested Russian phrase, which can be
translated literally as "How are you called?"
The second word in the Russian
sentence is the word
тебя which is the accusative
case from the personal pronoun
ты (“you”).
In Russian language ты is not the only
equivalent for "you". There is another one:
Вы.
Вы is a polite,
official form, and therefore it is often used with a capital letter.
Ты is
friendly, informal, and can be used with a capital letter only in the beginning of a
sentence.
People usually use
ты in the following cases:
(a) talking with their direct relatives:
parents and grandparents, children and
grandchildren, brothers and sisters (however, with more distant relations they
may use either
ты or
Вы depending on the age and degree of closeness in
18
their relationships. For example, an uncle will call his
nephew
ты but will usually
expect that the nephew will show a little more respect towards his older relation);
(b) talking with their spouses, partners or friends;
(c) talking with children.
In most other cases, using of
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
