
Would you use this "unpleasant" saying to "Вы"? ;-)
I guess it's the plural « Вы » rather than a singular « Вы » :)

I was asking due to the translation into Hebrew.
I used a plural verb in my translation (for "you" in the plural).

> Would you use this "unpleasant" saying to "Вы"? ;-)
Sure we whould. :-) Russian people are severe yet polite people. ;-) We can use "Вы" even sending people to devil. :-)

Thanks :-)
So, should I add another variant in Hebrew, addressed in the singular rather than plural? (I've already posted the variant in the plural).

You know, without context it's hard to determine was this addressed to a single person or to a group of people. In Russian both cases are possible. :-)

> Sure we whould. :-)
+1

Excellent! ;-)
Thanks, this is exactly what I needed to know. Both variants would therefore be accepted (singular and plural)

Wait... Now you both got me confused ;-)
"Вы" is anyhow used in Russian either in the singular (same as in French "vous", as a token of respect) and in the plural.

Example:
- Идите [Вы] к чёрту, Том!
- Идите [вы все] к чёрту!

Indeed :)
Thanks!

As you certainly know, in Russian polite way of addressing a person prescribes using plural forms of words. This causes am ambiguity when we don't have enough context. Take a look and compare. :-)
- Идите к чёрту!
- Идите к чёрту, Фёдор Михайлович!
- Шли бы Вы к чёрту, уважаемый!
- Да идите вы все к чёрту!

Or:
- Иди [ты] к чёрту, Том!
http://tatoeba.org/rus/sentences/show/2113064

I see the difference now:
if it's a singular "Вы", it will be a capital В; otherwise, it will be a lowercase letter -- addressing plural --, unless it's in the beginning of the sentence.

Exactly!

Actually, "вы" doesn't require capitalization unless we're writing an official document or personal letter. But we are, me and Marina, found useful to use capitalization to explicitly indicate that we're dealing with polite addressing to a single person rather than to a group. :-)

And you're not the only ones ;-)
I see. Thanks!

In the modern Russian language they vere often use "вы", but not "Вы" to address even a single person. There are not strict rules about case of letter for singular "вы". Nevertheless, it is unformally considered more polite to write "Вы".
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This sentence was initially added as a translation of sentence #2083724
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