Russian Internal Memo — How to Write "To" and "From"

A Russian internal memo (служебная записка) is an internal company document for communication between departments or employees. Unlike an application, the memo has its own formatting specifics: the "Кому" block is centered or left-aligned, and the document has a fixed structure.

The Memo Header

Header structure:

1. "Кому" (To) — recipient (position and full name)
2. "От кого" (From) — sender (position and full name)
3. Date and number — usually left-aligned or centered

Who Goes in the "To" Field

The "Кому" line is always in the dative case:

• Директору [department name] [full name]
• Руководителю [department name] [full name]
• Начальнику [department name] [full name]

Example:

Директору of HR Department
LLC "Logistics"
Volkov Igor Konstantinovich

Who Goes in the "From" Field

The "От кого" line is in the genitive case:

• От sales manager [full name]
• От specialist of [department name] [full name]

Example:

From sales manager
Pavlova Elena Vladimirovna

Header Template

Директору of HR Department
LLC "Logistics"
Volkov Igor Konstantinovich

From sales manager
Pavlova Elena Vladimirovna

                                          15 May 2026

Common Mistakes

1. Wrong case — "Директору" (dative) vs "Директора" (accusative). Always use dative: "Директору", "Начальнику".
2. Incorrect alignment — while centered layout is allowed, the "Кому" / "От кого" block is typically left-aligned in memos.
3. Informal job titles — "нач. отдела" instead of full "Начальнику отдела".

Checklist

• [ ] "Кому" — dative case (директору, начальнику, руководителю)
• [ ] "От кого" — genitive case
• [ ] Date is left-aligned or right-aligned
• [ ] Memo number (if any) — below the date

Online Generator

To format a memo header with correct cases — use the generator. Select the "Memo" scenario and the system will fill in the correct grammatical forms.

Note: Russian grammatical cases follow specific patterns. The generator provides standard forms based on common job titles. For rare or composite titles ("deputy head of department", "director of development"), verify the result against a Russian grammar reference.