Хоть бы паспарту обрезали ровно.

evenly

Breakdown of Хоть бы паспарту обрезали ровно.

• хоть бы: if only
• паспарту: the picture mat; mount
• обрезать: to trim; cut off (perfective)

Questions & Answers about Хоть бы паспарту обрезали ровно.

What does хоть бы mean here?

Here хоть бы is an idiomatic expression of wish plus frustration.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• if only they had cut it straight
• they could at least have cut the mat straight

It usually sounds emotional, often annoyed, disappointed, or critical.

So Хоть бы паспарту обрезали ровно is not a calm neutral statement. It sounds like the speaker is unhappy with the result.

Why is обрезали in the past tense?

Because Russian forms this kind of wish/irrealis meaning with бы plus a past-tense verb form.

So even though обрезали is formally past tense, in a sentence with бы it often works more like:

• would cut / would have cut
• if only they had cut

This is the normal Russian pattern for the conditional/subjunctive idea.

So:

• обрезали = past plural form
• бы = turns it into a wish/conditional-style meaning

Why is обрезали plural if there is no subject?