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Questions & Answers about Убери кружки со стола.
What does Убери mean in the sentence Убери кружки со стола?
Убери is the second-person singular imperative of the perfective verb убрать, meaning “to remove,” “to take away” or “to clear off.” In context it tells one person to complete the action of clearing the mugs away.
Why is кружки in that form? Isn’t it nominative plural?
Here кружки is actually accusative plural (the direct object of убери). For inanimate masculine nouns like кружка, nominative and accusative plurals look identical (кружки), so you rely on context to know it’s the object.
What does со mean in со стола, and why isn’t it just с?
The preposition с means “off” or “from (a surface)” and requires the genitive case. Before certain consonant clusters (like ст in стола) с becomes со to make pronunciation easier. Meaning doesn’t change.
Why is стола in the genitive case?
When you use с/со to indicate movement or removal from something, the noun that follows must be in the genitive. The genitive singular of стол is стола, so со стола means “off the table.”
What’s the difference between убрать and убирать?
They form an aspectual pair:
• убирать (imperfective) describes an ongoing or habitual action (“to be clearing away”).
• убрать (perfective) describes a single, completed action (“to clear away/put away”).
The imperative убери uses the perfective because it commands the action to be finished.
Why isn’t the pronoun “you” (ты) used?
In Russian the subject pronoun is often omitted when the verb ending clearly shows the person. Убери is grammatically second-person singular, so ты is unnecessary and usually dropped in commands.
Does Убери кружки со стола imply washing the mugs?
No. It only means “take the mugs off the table” or “clear the mugs away.” If you wanted to say “wash the mugs,” you would use a verb like помой кружки or вымой кружки.
Where is the stress in убери, and how should I pronounce it?
The stress is on the last syllable: убери́ (u-be-REE). That’s typical for the perfective imperative of убрать.