Breakdown of Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
Questions & Answers about Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
Russian often uses the infinitive to talk about actions in a general, impersonal way, similar to English "if you sit / if one sits".
- Если долго сидеть за компьютером…
Literally: If (to) sit at the computer for a long time…
Meaning: If you sit at the computer for a long time… / If one sits… / When people sit…
If you say:
- Если ты долго сидишь за компьютером, может болеть спина.
this is more directly about you in particular.
The infinitive makes it sound like a general rule, not tied to any specific person. Russian does this a lot, e.g.:
- Курить вредно. – Smoking is harmful.
- Здесь нельзя парковаться. – You can’t park here. (literally: here it’s not allowed to park)
Grammatically:
- In если долго сидеть за компьютером, there is no explicit subject: it’s an impersonal construction with the infinitive сидеть.
- In может болеть спина, the subject is спина (the back).
может болеть = may hurt.
Semantically, though, the whole sentence refers to a generic person – like English "you" in "If you sit at the computer for a long time, your back may hurt." It’s not about the speaker or listener specifically; it’s a general statement about people.
Компьютером is in the instrumental case.
With the preposition за, Russian often uses the instrumental to mean “at / behind something” (as a location):
- за столом – at the table
- за рулём – at the wheel (driving)
- за компьютером – at the computer / on the computer
So:
- сидеть за компьютером = to sit at the computer (i.e. using it, working on it), literally to sit behind the computer.
Different prepositions give different pictures:
- за компьютером – the normal expression for “at the computer” (working, using it). This is what you almost always say.
- перед компьютером – literally in front of the computer. Possible, but it focuses more on physical position in front of a device, not so much the activity of using it.
- на компьютере – literally on the computer.
This is used for things happening on the computer itself:- играть на компьютере – to play (games) on the computer
- файл на компьютере – a file on the computer
So for “If you sit at the computer for a long time…”, за компьютером is the natural choice.
In this sentence, может expresses possibility, so it’s closest to “may” / “might”:
- может болеть спина – the back may hurt / your back might hurt.
It is not about ability (“can”) here, but about something that can happen / is likely to happen.
You could translate the whole thing as:
- If you sit at the computer for a long time, your back may hurt.
- If you sit at the computer for a long time, your back might start hurting.
Compare:
- болит спина – the back hurts (a simple fact)
- может болеть спина – the back may hurt / the back can hurt (there is a possibility)
Может softens the statement; it turns a simple fact into a possible outcome. The sentence is not saying “the back definitely hurts every time”, but rather “it can hurt / it may hurt” as a result of sitting too long.
Here, может болеть is literally “may (to) hurt”:
может (3rd person) + болеть (infinitive) = may hurt.
This is a common pattern in Russian:
- Он может прийти. – He may come.
- Она может опоздать. – She may be late.
- Может болеть спина. – The back may hurt.
If you said может болит спина, that would be ungrammatical. With может in this sense (“may/might”), the second verb stays in the infinitive.
The difference is in aspect and meaning:
- болеть (imperfective) – to hurt (as an ongoing state)
- может болеть спина – your back may hurt (in general / for a while).
- заболеть (perfective) – to start hurting, to become sore
- может заболеть спина – your back may start to hurt.
So:
Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
Focus: in that situation, your back may be hurting (as a typical result).Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может заболеть спина.
Focus: your back may begin to hurt after some time.
Both are correct; the original is more about the general state, not the moment it starts.
Yes, that’s perfectly correct:
- Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
- Если долго сидеть за компьютером, спина может болеть.
Both are grammatical and mean essentially the same thing.
Subtle nuance:
- может болеть спина – slightly more neutral / impersonal; the verb phrase comes first, then the body part.
- спина может болеть – puts a bit more emphasis on спина (the back).
In everyday speech, both orders are fine.
Yes, you can also say:
- Когда долго сидишь за компьютером, может болеть спина.
(or with infinitive) Когда долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
Differences:
- если – if, introduces a condition. It sounds like a rule or warning:
If you do X, Y may happen. - когда – when / whenever, introduces a time frame or a repeated situation:
Whenever you do X, Y tends to happen.
In many everyday contexts they overlap, but если keeps a clearer “cause–possible effect” flavor.
Because если introduces a subordinate clause (a conditional clause).
- Если долго сидеть за компьютером – subordinate clause (condition)
- может болеть спина – main clause (result)
In Russian, you must separate such clauses with a comma, no matter the word order:
- Если долго сидеть за компьютером, может болеть спина.
- Спина может болеть, если долго сидеть за компьютером.
You can make the sentence more explicitly personal:
- Если я долго сижу за компьютером, у меня может болеть спина.
Or:
- Если я долго сижу за компьютером, у меня начинает болеть спина.
– If I sit at the computer for a long time, my back starts to hurt.
Notice:
- я долго сижу – I sit for a long time (personal form)
- у меня болит / может болеть спина – literally at me the back hurts / may hurt, the usual way to say “my back hurts / might hurt” in Russian.
Stress marks (accented syllables in bold):
- Е́сли – YE-sli
- до́лго – DOL-go
- сиде́ть – see-DYET’
- за компьютером – za kom-ПЬЮ́-te-ram
- мо́жет – MO-zhet
- боле́ть – ba-LYET’
- спина́ – spee-NÁ
Full sentence with stresses:
- Е́сли до́лго сиде́ть за компью́тером, мо́жет боле́ть спина́.