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Breakdown of Подойди к подоконнику и посмотри на улицу.
на
at
и
and
улица
the street
к
to
подойти
to come
подоконник
the windowsill
посмотреть
to look
Questions & Answers about Подойди к подоконнику и посмотри на улицу.
What does подойди mean and what verb form is it?
подойди is the 2nd-person singular imperative of the perfective verb подойти, which means “to approach” or “to come up to.” Here it’s a command (informal “you”) telling someone to move closer.
Who is being addressed by these commands? Where is the subject?
The subject is the unstated ты (“you” informal). In Russian imperatives, the subject is usually omitted but understood from the verb ending.
Why is к used with подоконнику, and which case does подоконник take?
The preposition к (meaning “toward” or “to”) always takes the dative case. So подоконник (“windowsill”) becomes подоконнику in the dative singular to mean “to the windowsill.”
What exactly is a подоконник?
A подоконник is a “windowsill” – the ledge or bottom part of a window, inside the room. You’re being told to come up and stand by that ledge.
Why isn’t there a comma before и?
When и connects two verbs that share the same subject and form (here two imperatives), Russian punctuation rules do not require a comma.
What’s the difference between посмотри and смотри, and why is the perfective used here?
смотри is the imperfective imperative of смотреть (“to look”), implying ongoing or repeated action (“keep looking,” “watch”). посмотри is the perfective imperative of посмотреть, indicating a single, completed action (“take a look once”). Because you’re simply being asked to glance out once, the perfective посмотри is used.
Why do we say посмотри на улицу and not в улицу or just улицу?
After посмотреть (“to look”), Russian uses the preposition на with the accusative case to indicate the object you look at. Hence на улицу (улица → улицу). Using в would suggest physically entering the street, and omitting a preposition would be ungrammatical here.
How do you form imperatives of perfective verbs like подойти and посмотреть?
To make the 2nd-person singular perfective imperative, you typically drop the infinitive ending -ть and add -и.
Examples:
• подойти → подойди
• посмотреть → посмотри
Where is the stress in подоконник and посмотри?
• подоконник: the stress falls on the second о – pa-d(ə)-KÓN-nik.
• посмотри: the stress is on the last и – pa-smat-RÍ.
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