Немно́го о языке́ 6.7 Что мне де́лать?
More Command Forms
In this unit in our characters’ interactions with Russians, you encounter some additional command forms. The forms here are all in the formal/plural that are the forms you would use when talking to some in вы. If you are speaking to someone in ты, you should remove the –те ending.
These imperative forms are useful for getting a person’s attention when you have a question or need help, and they are widely used in Russian to initiate an interaction. Understanding and using these forms gives you another tool to manage your conversations with Russians.
Упражне́ние 1
Pick the command phrase that you could use to start speaking to a Russian, if you found yourself in the following situations.
Expressing the Future in Two Clause Situations
When we have two verbs in the future tense, they can either represent simultaneous actions when we use imperfective verbs, or they can represent sequential actions when we use perfective verbs.
| Когда́ мы бу́дем игра́ть в ка́рты, мы бу́дем слу́шать но́вые пе́сни гру́ппы Спли́н. | When we are playing cards, we’ll listen to new songs by the group Spleen. | simultaneous future actions – imperfective verbs |
| Когда́ я прочита́ю рома́н Война́ и мир, я начну́ А́нну Каре́нину. | When I’ve read the novel War and Peace, I will start Anna Karenina. | sequential future actions – perfective verbs |
Notice how in the Russian sentences above we will use future tense verbs in both the когда́ clause, and in the main clause. In English we use the present tense in the “when” clause, and the future tense only in the main clause. In Russian, since both actions will happen in future time, the verb in the когда́ clauses will also be in the future tense.
The consistent use of future tense verbs in both clauses will be true for sentences that start with the conjunctions как то́лько (as soon as) and е́сли (if), as well.
| Как то́лько друзья́ приглася́т меня́ в Москву́, я куплю́ биле́т на по́езд. | As soon as my friends invite me to Moscow, I will buy a train ticket. |
| Если бу́дет пробле́ма, я вам позвоню́. | If there’s a problem, I will call you. |
Что мне де́лать? (What should I do?)
The title of this episode is Что мне де́лать?, which can be translated into English as “What should I do?” What do you notice about how that idea is expressed?
Sentences like this are called impersonal in Russian because they do not contain a subject in the nominative case who does the action of the conjugated verb. Instead, the person is expressed by the dative case, and the action is expressed in the infinitive. The whole sentence can be thought of as “To X person [it falls] to do Y action.” Impersonal constructions like these are quite common in Russian, and you will encounter more of them in the second half of our story.
Упражне́ние 2
Read the sentences below and think about who is likely to ask the question.