Have fun in Russian: How to say?
The idea of having fun can be expressed in multiple ways in Russian.
The most straightforward ones are:
– весели́ться / повесели́ться
[vee-see-lée-tsa / pa-vee-see-lée-tsa]
to enjoy oneself, to amuse oneself, to make oneself merry, to have fun
comes from the word весе́лье – joy, merry, fun
– забавля́ться
[za-ba-vlyá-tsa]
to amuse oneself, to make oneself merry
comes from the word заба́ва – amusement, fun, pastime
The next one is a bit long but, probably, is the closest to the original meaning of “have fun”:
– хорошо́ проводи́ть вре́мя / хорошо́ провести́ вре́мя
[ha-ra-shó pra-va-déet’ vryé-mya / ha-ra-shó pra-vees-tée vryé-mya]
to have a good time
The next three are not so obvious but sometimes can be translated as “have fun” or used with a close meaning:
– ра́доваться / пора́доваться
[rá-da-va-tsa]
to be happy, to rejoice
comes from the word ра́дость – joy, gladness, pleasure
Sometimes ра́доваться means to enjoy something:
– ра́доваться прогу́лке
[rá-da-va-tsa pra-gúl-kye]
to enjoy walking
– отдыха́ть / отдохну́ть
[at-dy-hát]
to rest, to relax, to take a break
In the sense of having fun, отдыха́ть / отдохну́ть are often used with the word хорошо́ (good/well):
– хорошо́ отдохну́ть
[ha-ra-shó at-dah-nút’]
to have a good time, to have fun
– расслабля́ться / рассла́биться
[ras-lab-lyá-tsa]
to relax
When расслабля́ться / рассла́биться are used in the meaning “have fun”, it means mostly active types of relaxing, like letting go of worries or “cutting loose”.
The next expression is slang:
– отрыва́ться / оторва́ться
[at-ry-vá-tsa]
to have a good time, to have fun, to cut loose, to have a blast
Literally, отрыва́ться / оторва́ться means to come off, to tear off, to be torn off. You can learn more about this word here.
And the last one that comes from the word дура́к which means fool:
– дура́читься
[du-rá-chee-tsa]
to fool around
Listen to "Have fun" in Russian
The audio recording includes all the examples (in bold and blue) listed above.
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Examples of "have fun" in Russian
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