Ужин готов: возьми вилку и ложку.

Dinner is ready: take a fork and a spoon.

Breakdown of Ужин готов: возьми вилку и ложку.

• и: and
• ужин: the dinner
• взять: to take
• ложка: the spoon

Questions & Answers about Ужин готов: возьми вилку и ложку.

Why is готов used instead of готовый?

In Russian, when an adjective follows a noun to express its state (predicate), you usually use the short form of the adjective. Готов is the short masculine form of готовый, and it agrees with ужин (a masculine noun). Together, Ужин готов literally means “Dinner [is] ready.”

Why is there no verb like “is” in Ужин готов?

Modern Russian omits the present-tense copula быть (“to be”). The sentence Ужин готов is a nominal (zero-copula) sentence: the noun and short adjective express a complete thought without an explicit “is.”

What is the function of the colon after готов?

The colon introduces the result or command that follows. Here it links the statement “Dinner is ready” with the instruction “take a fork and a spoon,” similar to writing “Dinner is ready: take a fork and a spoon.”

What does возьми mean, and what form is it?

Возьми is the 2nd person singular imperative of the perfective verb взять (“to take”). It instructs one person (ты) to take something as a single, completed action.

Could we say возьмите or бери вилку и ложку instead of возьми?