If I'm not mistaken, "пожалуйста" means both "please" and "you're welcome" in Russian. But how do I reply if someone says "You're welcome" to me in Russian? I've tried searching this, and when I couldn't find any results, I searched how to say it in English. The best result was "thank you", but this sounds cheesy. What is a better, natural way of replying to пожалуйста (You're welcome)?
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1Could you give an example of the conversation? Because we don't usually answer пожалуйста after thank you, for instance.– V.V.Jul 24, 2022 at 11:03
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And we make no remarks after "you are welcome"– V.V.Jul 24, 2022 at 11:10
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2How do you want to reply to "You're welcome"?– Sergey SlepovJul 24, 2022 at 12:02
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4@user87626 this pleasantries exchange has to stop somewhere, and as far as I understand it, it stops at "you're welcome" in pretty much any language. Otherwise your get yourself into the joke about the Young Pioneer and the old gentleman at the bus stop.– Quassnoi ♦Jul 24, 2022 at 22:31
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1In English, we don't respond to you're welcome since it normally marks the end of the niceties: — Thank you for filling in for me. — You're welcome.– CocoPopJul 25, 2022 at 20:42
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2 Answers
We don't usually answer пожалуйста after спасибо.
— Спасибо. — Не за что.(As far as I'm concerned, this is used most often for "you're welcome"). Other variants are рад помочь, на здоровье, не стоит благодарности ( formal).
And that's it!
Пожалуйста seems to only be a form of "please": as per my Russian dictionary from Moscow, "Пожалуйста" in response to "спасибо" is short for "Пожалуйста, не стоит благодарности".
Though @V.V. says the word isn't usually used this way, I personally have heard it in response to my own thanks. Though it seems rather long-winded.
But how do I reply if someone says "You're welcome" to me in Russian?
If someone is offering you something, sometimes they will say "пожалуйста" to be very polite. Perhaps this is what you're refering to.
