Thread: How to say 'shut up'?

I want to tell a student to be quiet

Something not as rude as shut up but more direct than 'please be quiet'

Малчай?

Спасибо

Originally Posted by justinwyllie

Малчай?

The imperative form of the verb молчать ‘be silent’ is молчи́ (sg.) / молчи́те (pl.).
You can use this form, but more commonly, it is used with a prefix:
замолчи́(те) — literally: ‘start being silent’, or
помолчи́(те) — literally: ‘be silent for a while’.
You can also use the infinitive form without prefixes: молча́ть!

All these phrases are quite direct requests—neither polite nor too rude.

If you are addressing several people, you should use plural forms with -те.
If you are addressing a single person, the choice between singular and plural forms is not trivial. It depends on social relations between interlocutors and personal preferences. Usually teachers in schools address their (pre)teenage students with the pronoun ты and singular verb forms, while professors in collages and universities address their adult students with the pronoun вы and plural forms (singular forms can be used to increase rudeness). This can vary with individual teachers/schools however.

You can also see this topic for phrases with similar meaning and different degree of rudeness.

Перестань(те)/прекрати(те) разговаривать - Stop talking
Не разговаривай(те)! Не разговаривать! - No talking
Перестань(те)/прекрати(те) шуметь
Не шуми(те)! Не шуметь! - Hold your noise
Тихо! - Quiet!

I always thought that the only translation is заткнись.
Maybe, because I am surrounded by not very polite people?

Please go to The Big Lebowski and search for 'Vladimir'
And dubbing to Russian reads:
Заткнись, Донни! Вэ И Ленин! Владимир Ильич Улья́нов!

Соблюдайте тишину/дисциплину/правила поведения/правила приличия.