Today we are going to tell you about Russian toasts that are said when people come together to celebrate a holiday. If you are invited to a Russian party but you don’t know what to say when you sit at a table with Russians, this article will help you a lot!
Russians most frequently use the preposition “За” [Za] “To + word in the accusative case” to make a toast. Let’s look at a few Russian toasts:
Russians sometimes say: Ваше здоровье! – [vashee zda-ró-vye] – Your health! They say this toast when they address a person who is older than them, or a group of people.
Твоё здоровье! – [tva-jó zda-ró-vye] – Your health! Russians say this toast when they address a person they know really well.
People in Russian often drink to their own health, and they say the following toast: “Будем здоровы!” [bóo-deem zda-ró-vye”], which we can translate into English as “To our health!”
There is also a toast which does not refer to alcohol drinking. This is a toast “na zda-ró-vye”. You address this phrase to a person who has thanked you for the meal.
[za tee-byá / za vas]
To you! / To you (formal)!
[za tva-jó zda-ró-vye / za vashee zda-ró-vye]
To your health! / To your health! (formal)
English: Let us drink to the success of our project / business!
English: May we always have a reason for a party!
English: To our get-together! May we meet up more often!
English: To the birthday girl! / To the birthday boy!
English: May your dreams come true not only on your birthday!
English: Happy Birthday!
This is a typical Russian toast at a wedding. When one of the guests say “Горько!”, a newly married couple should kiss each other.
After a toast has been said, there is a tradition to clink glasses. People clink their glasses to symbolize their unity. In the past, people used to do it in order to demonstrate their trust into each other, as well as to prove that the wine had not been poisoned.
We have collected the most popular toasts for formal gatherings and parties with friends. Good toasts are always an excellent icing for any kind of parties!
As it seems to us, Daugavpils is the best place to learn Russian now, because our city is situated in the EU and NATO, but at the same time 90% of the city’s population speak Russian at home.
Etude on Dvinsk by F.Fedorov
The Baltic region is one of the most catastrophe prone regions of the 2nd millennium, especially its second part; it is the centre of attraction of ‘geopolitical’ interests of the European world. Probably the most tragic fate has befallen to the eastern part of the present Latvia and its multi-titled town of Dinaburg – Dvinsk – Daugavpils. During its 730 years long history, the town went through five rather autonomous periods of development, five different lives (German, Polish, Russian, Latvian, Soviet), and at the beginning of the 1990s it entered into the 6th period.
The history of Dinaburg – Dvinsk – Daugavpils is the history of five attempts by the town to begin its life anew; and this is determined not only by the fact that the town was four times burned down and had to start life from scratch, but first and foremost because each of these periods was characterized by a total change of ethnos and the socio-cultural field.
The present article deals with the cultural space of the town in one of the most efficient periods of its development – from the 1860s till World War I.