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Breakdown of Ты можешь позвонить соседу, если хочешь узнать цену.
если
if
хотеть
to want
ты
you
мочь
to be able
позвонить
to call
сосед
the neighbor
узнать
to find out
цена
the price
Questions & Answers about Ты можешь позвонить соседу, если хочешь узнать цену.
Why is ты used here instead of вы?
Because the speaker is addressing someone informally—probably a friend or neighbor. Ты is the singular, informal “you.” Вы would be formal or plural “you.”
What does можешь mean in this sentence?
It’s the second‑person singular present form of the verb мочь, meaning “can” or “are able to.” So ты можешь = “you can.”
Why is the verb позвонить used instead of звонить?
Позвонить is the perfective form, indicating a single, complete action (“to give a call”). Звонить (imperfective) would imply calling continuously or habitually. When you refer to making one phone call, you normally use позвонить.
Why is соседу in the dative case?
The verb позвонить requires the person you call to be in the dative case. Hence позвонить соседу = “to call the neighbor.”
Why is there a comma before если?
In Russian, when a subordinate clause introduced by если (“if”) follows the main clause, you place a comma before если to separate them.
Why isn’t there a ты before хочешь in the “if” clause?
Russian often drops personal pronouns when the subject is clear from context. Here the subject of хочешь is the same ты as in the main clause, so it’s omitted.
How is узнать цену structured grammatically?
Узнать is the perfective infinitive “to find out,” and цену is the direct object in the accusative case (“price”). Together they mean “to find out the price.”
Why is the infinitive узнать perfective and not imperfective узнавать?
Perfective узнать focuses on the single completed action of discovering the price. Imperfective узнавать would emphasize an ongoing or repeated action, which doesn’t fit here.
Could I begin the sentence with the “if” clause?
Yes. You can say:
Если хочешь узнать цену, ты можешь позвонить соседу.
The comma remains, and the meaning is the same.
What if the neighbor is female—how would I change соседу?
You’d use the feminine dative form соседке. So: ты можешь позвонить соседке.
Can I use и to connect the two clauses instead of a comma?
No. A conditional clause with если is linked by a comma alone. Adding и would be ungrammatical here.
How is соседу pronounced and where is the stress?
It’s pronounced [sɐˈsʲedʊ], with the stress on the second syllable: сосе́ду.
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