There are lots of different ways to say "Keep cool" and "Don't worry" in Russian: formal, colloquial, idiomatic and slang expressions. Watch this free video lesson to learn these useful Russian words and expressions.
Different ways to say "Don't worry" in Russian
The most common expression to say ‘Don’t worry’ in Russian is Не пережива́й [нипирижывАй] - don't worry;
Note that all these expressions will be in imperative form.
The infinitive is пережива́ть (to feel anxious)
Не пережива́й for informal situations to address to a person you know well.
Не пережива́йте is a formal or a plural form to address to several people.
Не пережива́й, Ва́ня! (Don't worry, Vanya)
Не пережива́йте, Ива́н! (Don't worry, Ivan)
Не пережива́йте, друзья́! (Don't worry, friends)
The next common expression is Успоко́йся [успакОйс'а] - calm down;
Or Успоко́йтесь (formal) from the verb успокоить (to calm someone down)
Успоко́йся, всё бу́дет хорошо́! (Calm down, everything will be alright)
Всё бу́дет хорошо́ is a good supplement phrase to cheer up a person.
It means 'Everything will be alright'.
Next we have Не беспоко́йся [нибиспакОйс'а] / Не беспоко́йтесь [нибиспакОйт'эс'] from the verb беспоко́иться [биспакОица] - to worry, to feel anxious.
Next - Не волну́йся [нивалнУйса] / Не волну́йтесь [нивалнУйт'эс'] from the verb волнова́ться [валнавАца] - to be worried
Волнова́ться is closer to 'be agitated', so you don't need an apparent reason for it.
Я волну́юсь (I am worried) – Не волну́йся (Take it easy)
And now it’s time for some idiomatic and slang expressions that you can use when you want to tell a person to forget about problems and to keep cool.
The first one is Возьми́ себя́ в ру́ки - Get over it!
Literal translation – take yourself in your arms
The next funny slang expressions is Не ссы!
Literal translation: don’t wet your pants
It means don’t panic, don’t worry, or don’t be afraid.
There is also a longer version of this phrase – "Не ссы, Мару́ся, я Дубро́вский" (Don't wet your pants, Marusya, I am Dubrovsky) or a more polite "Споко́йно, Ма́ша, я Дубро́вский" (Don't panic, Masha, I am Dubrovsky).
Дубро́вский is a character from a famous novel by Pushkin with the same name. But, of course, Pushkin didn’t write this slang expression in his novel, it’s just a crazy imagination of someone who created this phrase.
The next phrase is Не па́рься [нипАр'с'а] - don't sweat it
It’s a slang word, so use it only in informal situations
A synonym of ‘не па́рься’ is Забе́й [заб'Эй] - get over it;
Наплю́й на это! – Take it easy (Literal – spit on it)
If you see that a person is nervous you can use this word - Осты́нь [астЫн'] - chill out
And the last phrase that you can use to calm a person down is не кипишу́й [никипишУй] (stay calm, don't make a fuss)
The word ки́пиш means a rage or a riot.
Что за ки́пиш? means "Why all the fuss?
If you have recently started to learn Russian language, then you absolutely need to get my free guide 'Essential Russian Words and Expressions to Understand Spoken Russian'.
This guide also contains audio files so that you can listen to these phrases on the go: while driving, walking, doing sport or brushing your teeth. Make sure that you repeat these phrases yourself and try to imitate my accent.
It's also very important to know how to pronounce Russian words correctly as not every Russian letter is pronounced the same way as it's written. There are certain Russian pronunciation rules that are really easy to learn.
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