Breakdown of Пора попрощаться с гостями.
с
with
гость
the guest
пора
it’s time
попрощаться
to say goodbye (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Пора попрощаться с гостями.
Why does the sentence start with Пора? What exactly does it mean here?
Пора is an impersonal word meaning it’s time or the time has come.
So Пора попрощаться с гостями literally means something like:
- It’s time to say goodbye to the guests
- It’s time to say farewell to the guests
Russian often uses пора + infinitive to express that something should be done now.
Examples:
- Пора идти. — It’s time to go.
- Пора спать. — It’s time to sleep.
- Пора работать. — It’s time to work.
There is no subject like it in Russian here; the sentence is naturally impersonal.
Why is попрощаться in the infinitive?
Because пора is normally followed by an infinitive.
The pattern is:
- пора + infinitive
So:
- Пора уходить. — It’s time to leave.
- Пора начинать. — It’s time to begin.
- Пора попрощаться с гостями. — It’s time to say goodbye to the guests.
The infinitive is used because the sentence is not saying who is doing the action directly. It just states that the action should now happen.
Why is it попрощаться, not прощаться?