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Would you be so kind to explain what the rule of capitalizing the above mentioned words is? What I am sure of is the fact that in exclamations like боже мой, о,господи we don't capitalize such words, but I am not quite sure if we always capitalize them in prayers or other situations connected with religion.

Tsundoku
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V.V.
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  • See here: http://russian.stackexchange.com/q/2258/551 – Artemix Aug 01 '16 at 12:20
  • Спасибо, @Artemix, я ведь поискала, но не нашла. – V.V. Aug 01 '16 at 13:47
  • Пожалуйста. Дубликаты - нормальная ситуация. Лучше их избегать, но не всегда получается. – Artemix Aug 01 '16 at 14:48

1 Answers1

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I'd say that you capitalize these words when you actually mean The God (of one of three religions: Christianity, Judaism or Islam, though not sure about the latter), so in prayers – definitely capitalized.

In expressions like "о боже мой", you don't usually mean mentioning The God, thus no capitalization.

There are somewhat tricky cases like "бог простит", "я верю в бога", etc. The capitalization is up to you, as you might actually mean The God, or just appeal to any god or whatever force there is.

If you talk about any gods from a polytheistic religion, the word бог is never capitalized.

There are some extremely religious people who would capitalize these words (or even omit "о" in "Бог") no matter what, but it is usually considered weird and wrong. E.g. "Б-г мой, смотри какая шляпка" or "О Боже мой, я ужасно опаздываю". I think even non-native can see how ridiculous this looks.

Alissa
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