Не снимай перчатки, на улице холодно.

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Breakdown of Не снимай перчатки, на улице холодно.

• улица: the street
• не: not
• перчатка: the glove

Questions & Answers about Не снимай перчатки, на улице холодно.

What grammatical form is снимай and how is it formed?

It’s the 2nd person singular informal imperative of the imperfective verb снима́ть “to take off.” Formation: take the infinitive stem (снима-) and add -й → снима́й. For formal/plural, add -те → снима́йте.

Why is the imperfective used in Не снимай instead of the perfective?

Negative commands in Russian normally use the imperfective imperative to prohibit a process or general action: Не снима́й “Don’t (be) taking off.” The perfective imperative with negation is rare and only used with certain verbs to warn against a single, one-time outcome (e.g., Не забудь!, Не опозда́й!, Не упади́!). With снять, Не сними! is not idiomatic; use Не снима́й!

How do I say this to one person formally or to several people?

Use the plural/formal imperative: Не снима́йте перча́тки, на у́лице холодно.

Why is it перчатки (accusative) after negation and not перчаток (genitive)?

Russian allows both accusative and genitive objects under negation, but they differ in nuance. The accusative перча́тки is the neutral, most common choice for a specific, definite object (“the gloves you’re wearing”). The genitive перча́ток under negation sounds more bookish or emphasizes “not any gloves at all” (indefinite/partitive). Here, accusative is the natural choice.