Today I will give you an interesting Russian word that can express interest, indignation, doubt, surprise, or even mistrust. It is the word “разве”.

General Meaning Of “Разве”

“Pа́зве“ [RAHZ-veh] is used to express surprise, some kind of mistrust, and to have doubts about the information you have or about its mismatch. For instance, suppose you had an idea about something but what you see in front of you is completely different from what you thought. In other words, it is similar to English “really?” or “didn’t (you)…?”

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Examples

Imagine that you were at the wedding of a colleague who married a blonde (suppose you saw her once and do not remember her face). A year later, you meet a colleague on the street with a brunette. You probably doubt it was his wife. Didn’t she have blonde hair? (Ра́зве у неё све́тлые во́лосы?) Maybe she dyed it? Or maybe it’s not her at all.

Or another situation. You wake up with an alarm, drink coffee, and prepare to go to work. But at this time, your mother calls you and asks you to come and help clean up the yard. You say, “Mom, don’t you know I’m at work on Fridays?” (“Ма́ма, ра́зве ты не зна́ешь, что я на рабо́те по пя́тницам?”) And she replies: “Today is Saturday, dear.” (“Сего́дня суббо́та, дорого́й.”) Your first thought is “Really?” (“Ра́зве?”) It is showing that you thought one thing, but something else has happened.

Synonym For “Разве”

In this context, the word “ра́зве” has a synonym very close in meaning – “неуже́ли” [ni-u-ZHE-lee]. However, “неуже́ли” is more about the emotional reaction to the information. Also, more often, this word is used in a negative sense, but not always. Although in some cases, they can be interchanged absolutely equally.

“Неуже́ли” can also be used in rhetorical or sarcastic statements:

– Неуже́ли ты наконе́ц-то убра́лся у себя́ в ко́мнате? (Have you really finally cleaned up your room?)

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Examples

Let’s say you told a friend a story from your life. But he didn’t believe you and started laughing. You are indignant. In this case, you can say: “Ра́зве ты мне не ве́ришь?” (“Don’t you believe me?”). Or more emotionally (resentfully): “Неуже́ли ты мне не ве́ришь?” (“Don’t you believe me?”)

Another Meaning Of “Разве”

At the same time, “ра́зве” also can be a conjunction that has a meaning similar to “unless“. Here, it illustrates the doubtfulness to make a decision or assumption of the possibility of something. And it is more used in set expressions, as “ра́зве то́лько” (“only maybe”/”unless”), “ра́зве что” (“except“), and some others.

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Examples

– Я не бу́ду есть, ра́зве то́лько чу́точку. (I won’t eat, only maybe a little.)

– Я не знаю никого в этой комнате, ра́зве что моего учителя. (I don’t know anyone in this room except my teacher.)

– Он никогда́ не но́сит футбо́лок, ра́зве то́лько в о́тпуске. (He never wears T-shirts, unless on vacation.)

I hope I could explain the meaning of the word “разве” and the situations when its use is appropriate. If you still have questions, write them in your comments below.