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Russian · phrasebook

Good luck in Russian

Good luck in Russian is удачи! (udachi), the word luck standing in the genitive because Russian wishes are genitive. Before exams and auditions Russians use the ritual ни пуха ни пера, which demands the reply к чёрту, to the devil.

Aurélien CuvelierAurélien CuvelierAug 9, 2026 · Updated Aug 10, 2026
удачи!
udachi
standard

The ways to say it

удачи!
udachi
standard
ни пуха ни пера!
ni pukha ni pera
the ritualneither fluff nor feather; hunters' reverse luck
к чёрту!
k chyortu
the replyto the devil! obligatory answer to the above
в добрый путь!
v dobry put
safe travelsfor departures and new beginnings

How to use it

Russian wishes drop желаю (I wish you) and leave the wished thing in the genitive: удачи, счастливого пути, спокойной ночи all follow the same machine you have met on the good-night page.

Ни пуха ни пера is anti-jinx logic: wishing a hunter no down and no feathers so the spirits do not spoil the hunt. Answering спасибо breaks the spell; the only correct reply is к чёрту. Use it before someone's exam and watch them grin.

Watch out

Never thank someone for ни пуха ни пера: спасибо ruins the ritual. The exchange is fixed, ни пуха ни пера answered by к чёрту, and Russians genuinely observe it.

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Aurélien Cuvelier

Written by

Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck

Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck: the app, and the verification pipeline behind its dictionary. Every entry is grounded in the official TORFL lexical minimum and a 20,000-word frequency corpus, and every example sentence passes a certification review before it ships.

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