"What is your name?"
Translation:Как вас зовут?
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Just need to remember that when I want to ask "WHAT is your name?" to translate instead "HOW are you called?"
English is odd, isn't it, in that many european languages ask for a name more socially, like Russian does here?
In Brazillian Portuguese we can ask "Como é o seu nome?" or "Qual é o seu nome?", which, translating word for word, respectively become "How is your name?" and "Which is your name?" in English.
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For me sometimes they say another translation just because of a capital letter or missing punctuatiom hehehe its funny
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Why is «Как тебя зовут» right? I thought тебя/ты was an informal/familiar form. Is there a time when you would actually use this ie. asking a friend their name? Or is this just an example to teach the «Как тебя ...» phrase?
Just an example. And, still, sometimes you are in an informal environment or are speaking to a kid.
Why is вас before the verb? Is it because we want to emphasise зовут, or is there some construction I don't know about here? Coming from Portuguese, the word order isn't strange, but I wonder if swapping the places of вас and зовут would be grammatically acceptable (it wouldn't in Portuguese).
Although "как зовут вас" is acceptable, I have never heard anyone say it this way. It might have a slightly different connotation, because switching words around in Russian can do that sometimes.
I have a question about the difference between как and что Because I had to use как for what instead of что why is that?
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I'm not sure but I think this sentence is like "How are you called" https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BA_%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%81_%D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%83%D1%82
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The sentence is "How do they call you?". The "you" is the direct object of "call", and must be in the accusative case. The accusative of ты is тебя.
The correct version with твой will be "Как твоё имя?". The pronoun is in the neuter form because the noun is neuter.
• Что: What
• Как: How
Although in this example, Как is preferred. Making the translation, "How are you called?"
There's no indication of formality in the question "What is your name?" so тебя should have been accepted.
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No, because the word by word translation would be "How are you called". A lot of European languages ask for names with "How" instead of "What". Hope this helps
Strictly speaking it can be omitted, but it would sound rude. It gives an impression of an interrogation.