давай (davay)

What it means

1. 1.

   The standard informal sign-off on the phone: 'right, see you, bye'. Often doubled — давай-давай — and usually the last word before hanging up.

2. 2.

   Elsewhere it means 'go on, do it' or 'come on', and as давай + infinitive it forms the ordinary let's-construction: давай посмотрим, 'let's have a look'.

Literally: give

Examples with translations

• Ну всё, давай, до завтра.

  Right then — see you tomorrow.

• Давай, ты сможешь.

  Come on, you've got this.

Where it comes from

The imperative of давать 'to give', bleached of its literal sense. The farewell use is a Russian peculiarity that puzzles learners, who hear an order to hand something over.

Other forms

Romanised as:

davay