The word « пожалуйста » (please) is used in everyday conversations and it has a few more applications in Russian than in English. So, we will now discuss how to say “please” in Russian and when to use this word.

How do you pronounce the word « пожалуйста »?

Though this word seems difficult, in practice it is much easier to pronounce than it might appear. Just write it out phonetically as shown below:

Пожалуйста – [pa-ZHAL-sta]

You can see that the stress falls on the second syllable, but some of the sounds simply disappear when spoken.

When do you use the word « пожалуйста »?

As we said before the word « пожалуйста » has a few more applications in Russian than in English. Let’s have a look at this short dialogue:

– Передай мне , пожалуйста , хлеб . (1)
‎ Give me the bread, please !

– Вот , пожалуйста . (2)
‎ Here you are.

– Спасибо!
‎ Thank you!

– Пожалуйста , кушай на здоровье! (3)
‎ You are welcome , bon appetite!

As we see in Russian the word « пожалуйста » is used not only when we ask politely for something (1), but also in two other situations:

1. When we pass something to somebody .
2. When we acknowledge thanks.

It is not difficult to remember these rules. In this case Russian is easier than English because there are three applications for the same word. We hope this information is useful and helps you learn to speak Russian correct and politely!