Breakdown of Не нервничай, это же только короткий разговор.
Questions & Answers about Не нервничай, это же только короткий разговор.
Нервничай is the informal singular imperative of the verb нервничать (to be nervous, to worry).
- Infinitive: нервничать
- Present tense: я нервничаю, ты нервничаешь, он нервничает…
- Imperative (informal singular): нервничай
- Imperative (formal/plural): нервничайте
The negative command is formed simply as:
не + imperative → не нервничай = don’t be nervous / don’t worry (to one person, ты).
So the structure is:
- не – “don’t”
- нервничай – “be nervous” in the imperative form
Russian usually omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person and number. The ending -ай here clearly marks 2nd person singular (ты).
So:
- Не нервничай literally has an implied ты: Ты не нервничай.
- Adding ты is possible but sounds more emphatic or emotional: Ты не нервничай!
In neutral speech, the shorter form without ты is more common.
Же is an enclitic particle that adds emotional coloring, often:
- Emphasizing something the speaker thinks is obvious
- Softening or making the tone more persuasive, reassuring, or coaxing
Here, это же только короткий разговор could be felt as:
- Come on, it’s only a short conversation.
- But it’s just a short conversation, after all.
Without же:
- Это только короткий разговор. – more neutral: It’s just a short conversation.
With же:
- Это же только короткий разговор. – warmer, more reassuring, a bit like “you know” or “after all” added in English.
Yes, that’s perfectly correct.
- Не нервничай, это только короткий разговор. – neutral reassurance.
- Не нервничай, это же только короткий разговор. – more emotionally colored; feels more like you’re comforting or gently urging the person to relax.
The meaning is essentially the same; the difference is in tone and attitude.
In Russian:
- короткий refers to length or duration (short in time or in length).
- маленький refers to size or amount/importance (small, little).
A разговор is an event in time, so we talk about how long it lasts:
- короткий разговор – a short conversation (it won’t take much time).
Маленький разговор would sound odd; it suggests physical size or “small” in some abstract sense, not duration. For time/duration of events, короткий (short) is the normal adjective.
Both word orders are possible, but they have different effects:
- короткий разговор – neutral, standard order: adjective before noun, simply describing the type of conversation (a short conversation).
- разговор короткий – marked, with emphasis on the adjective; often used in expressions or as a dramatic statement:
- У нас разговор короткий. – We don’t beat around the bush / We keep it short and strict.
In your sentence, короткий разговор is the natural, neutral choice. Разговор короткий would sound more like a set phrase or slogan, not a gentle reassurance.
In the present tense, Russian normally omits the verb “to be” (есть) in such constructions.
So:
- Это только короткий разговор. literally: This only short conversation. understood as: This is just a short conversation.
You could theoretically say это есть короткий разговор, but in modern Russian that sounds archaic, bookish, or overly formal. The natural present-tense pattern is:
это + [predicate in nominative]
→ это только короткий разговор
Russian often uses present-tense “это + noun” to talk about things that are about to happen, are planned, or are being framed as a general type of situation.
Contextually, это (же) только короткий разговор can mean:
- It’s (just) a short conversation (we’re going to have / you’re about to have).
The idea is: we’re talking about the nature of the event (“it’s the kind of thing that’s just a short talk”), not about its exact tense. Russian doesn’t need to mark this explicitly as future here; the context does that.
Both только and просто can soften and downplay something, but they have slightly different nuances:
- только = only, just, merely
Emphasizes quantity/extent: “it’s nothing more than that”. - просто = simply, just
Emphasizes simplicity or lack of complication.
In this sentence:
- это же только короткий разговор – it’s only a short conversation (nothing more than that; don’t overestimate it).
- это же просто короткий разговор – it’s simply a short conversation (not something complicated or special).
Both are natural and reassuring; только slightly focuses on “it’s not a big deal in terms of importance/size,” просто on “it’s not complex or scary.”
Короткий разговор is in the nominative case.
In the pattern это + noun phrase, the noun phrase acts like a predicate (what “this” is), and in Russian, such predicates usually take the nominative:
- Это дом. – This is a house.
- Это хороший фильм. – This is a good film.
- Это только короткий разговор. – This is just a short conversation.
So короткий and разговор both appear in the nominative to agree as a simple predicate nominative.
Нервничать is inherently intransitive and already means “to be nervous / to worry” without needing a reflexive -ся.
- нервничать – to be nervous, to get worked up, to worry
- There is no common verb нервничаться in standard Russian.
The reflexive -ся is used with many verbs, but not all. With нервничать, speakers simply don’t add -ся; the meaning “to worry (oneself)” is built into the base verb.
Yes, some close, natural synonyms include:
- Не волнуйся. – Don’t worry.
- Успокойся. – Calm down.
- Не переживай. – Don’t worry / Don’t fret.
- Спокойно, спокойно. – Easy, easy / Relax. (colloquial, calming)
Не нервничай specifically mentions being nervous or worked up; не волнуйся and не переживай are very common everyday alternatives.
Stress marks (capital letters show stressed syllables):
- Не НЕРвничай, Это же толЬко корОткий разгавОР.
More precisely:
- не нервничай – nye NER-vni-chay
Stress on НЕР (first syllable). - это же – E-to zhe
Stress on Э. - только – TOL-ko
Stress on ТОЛ. - короткий – ka-ROHT-kiy
Stress on РОТ. - разговор – raz-ga-VOR
Stress on ВОР (last syllable).
So the overall rhythm is: не НЕРвничай, Это же ТОЛько корОткий разгавОР.