Every culture has a set of words and rules used in the social ritual of introducing people. For Russians the key word is «Познакомьтесь!», which is the вы imperative form of the verb познакомиться “to become acquainted;” познакомьтесь literally means “Acquaint yourselves!” The introduction ritual for Russians can be remarkably brief. Let's say Tanya and and her friend Olga are standing on the corner talking. Up to them walks Tanya's friend Vera, who doesn't know Olga. The following conversation could ensue:

In this context Tanya uses the вы form because she is thinking about both Vera and Olga, but if she is only thinking about Vera, she might use the ты form:

Both approaches are grammatical, but in the познакомьтесь version Tanya is addressing both of her friends, and in the познакомься version she is addressing only Vera. Notice also that each of the people being introduced simply states her name, nothing more is required. Of course, more complex sentences are also possible:

And of course the person doing the introduction can also give more information.

In English we would never say “Acquaint yourelves!”, so a professional translation will use the standard phrases of English that include the word ‘introduce’:

Russian does have the verbs представлять/представить “to introduce” and представляться/представиться “to introduce oneself,” but they are not used in most day-to-day introductions. Someone who has had a very formal upbringing might use them. You will hear them in formal meetings and official introductions during public events. For most of your interactions in Russia, though, познакомься and познакомьтесь will serve you well.

We mentioned that these words are imperative forms of the perfective verb познакомиться. We will explore the related words знакомиться, знакомить and познакомить over the next week or two.