Quick answer
Names lose their final vowel when you call out to someone: Ма́ша → Ма́ш!, Ва́ня → Ва́нь! For strangers: де́вушка and молодо́й челове́к.
The new vocative
| Name | Calling out | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Ма́ша | Ма́ш! | informal, very common |
| Ва́ня | Ва́нь! | same pattern |
| ма́ма | мам! | everyday |
| па́па | пап! | everyday |
| Серге́й | — Серге́й! | consonant-final names do not change |
This is strictly informal and spoken: you would never write Ма́ш in a letter. But you will hear it constantly, and it is a real grammatical form, not sloppiness.
Strangers
There is no good equivalent of “sir” or “madam”. In practice: де́вушка for any woman up to roughly fifty, молодо́й челове́к for a man of similar age, and мужчи́на / же́нщина for older people — though both can sound blunt. The safest option of all is to use no form of address and start with Извини́те, … or Скажи́те, пожа́луйста, ….
Formal and professional
Ива́н Петро́вич — first name plus patronymic — is the respectful form in any professional setting, and is still standard with teachers, doctors and officials. In writing: Уважа́емый Ива́н Петро́вич (dear…). Господи́н and госпожа́ exist but sound formal to the point of stiffness.
Not “това́рищ”
Това́рищ (comrade) is gone from ordinary speech and now sounds either Soviet or ironic. Граждани́н survives mainly in the mouths of police officers. Neither is a safe way to address someone today.
Typical mistakes
Же́нщина! — to a young woman
Де́вушка!
же́нщина can read as a comment on her age.
Това́рищ, скажи́те…
Извини́те, скажи́те…
Comrade is no longer current.
Check yourself
How do you call out to Ма́ша informally?