Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.

The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.

Breakdown of Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.

• учитель: the teacher
• не: not
• студент: the student
• просить: to ask
• его: him
• перебивать: to interrupt

Questions & Answers about Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.

What exactly does просит mean here? Is it “asks” like asking a question?

In this sentence, просит means “asks / requests (someone to do something)”, not “asks a question.”

Russian distinguishes:

• спрашивать / спросить – to ask a question

  • Учитель спрашивает студентов. – The teacher is asking the students (a question).

• просить / попросить – to ask for something, to request, to ask someone to do something

  • Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его. – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.
  • Я прошу тебя помочь мне. – I ask you to help me.

So the structure here is:
просить + кого? (Accusative) + что делать? (infinitive)

What case is студентов, and why does it end in -ов?

Студентов is in the accusative plural and refers to people (animate), so its form is identical to the genitive plural.

• Nominative plural: студенты – students (subject)
• Accusative plural (animate): студентов – students (direct object)

In this sentence:

• Кого просит? – (asks) студентов → Accusative plural (animate)

For animate masculine nouns, the accusative plural looks like the genitive plural:

• студенты → студентов
• учителя → учителей
• друзья → друзей

So студентов here is the direct object of просит.

Why does Russian use the infinitive не перебивать instead of a “that”-clause like “чтобы студенты не перебивали его”?

Russian has two common ways to express this kind of request:

1. просить + кого + не + infinitive

   • Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.
     Literally: The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.

2. просить, чтобы + кто + не + past-tense verb (imperfective)

   • Учитель просит, чтобы студенты его не перебивали.
     Literally: The teacher asks that the students do not interrupt him.

Both are grammatically correct. Differences:

• просить + infinitive is:

  • shorter and very common,
  • slightly more neutral and “direct” structurally.

• просить, чтобы…:

  • can sound a bit more formal, explicit, or heavier,
  • is useful when you want to make the subject very clear.

In everyday speech, the infinitive construction from your sentence is very natural and common.

Why is it перебивать (imperfective) and not перебить (perfective)?

Перебивать is the imperfective aspect, and that is the usual choice:

• when you forbid or allow actions in general,
• when you talk about actions that happen repeatedly or as a habit.

Перебивать here means “to interrupt (in general, as a behavior).”
The teacher is saying: Don’t (generally) interrupt me while I’m speaking.

If you used перебить, it would sound like preventing one single completed interruption, which is less natural in this kind of rule / request.

So with не + a general rule or prohibition, Russian normally prefers the imperfective:

• Не курить. – No smoking.
• Не опаздывать. – Don’t be late (in general).
• Не перебивать его. – Don’t interrupt him.

What’s the nuance of перебивать compared with verbs like прерывать or останавливать?

These verbs overlap in meaning but are used in different situations:

• перебивать (кого)
  – to interrupt someone while they are speaking
  – focuses on cutting off someone’s speech

  • Не перебивай меня! – Don’t interrupt me (while I’m talking)!

• прерывать (что / кого)
  – to interrupt, cut short, break off
  – broader: a speech, a process, a program

  • прервать лекцию – to interrupt a lecture
  • прерывать разговор – to interrupt a conversation

• останавливать (кого / что)
  – to stop someone or something that is moving or acting

  • останавливать машину – to stop a car
  • останавливать его – to stop him (physically or from doing something)

In classroom speech-interruption context, перебивать is the natural verb, because it specifically means interrupting a speaker.

Why is it его, not он, ему, or something else?

Его here is the accusative form of “he”:

• Nominative: он – he (subject)
• Accusative: его – him (direct object)
• Dative: ему – to him (indirect object)

In the phrase не перебивать его:

• Verb: перебивать – to interrupt
• Object: кого? – его (whom? – him)

So you must use the accusative form его, because he is the one being interrupted.

You cannot say:

• не перебивать он – wrong (nominative)
• не перебивать ему – wrong (dative)

Correct is: не перебивать его.

Could we say Учитель просит студентов не перебивать себя instead of его?

No, себя in this structure would refer to the students, not to the teacher.

In просит студентов не перебивать себя:

• The grammatical “subject” of the infinitive не перебивать is understood to be студентов (the ones who are not supposed to interrupt).
• себя normally refers back to the subject of the infinitive here → the students.

So не перебивать себя would naturally mean “not to interrupt themselves.”

To say “not interrupt him (the teacher),” you need его:

• Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его. – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.

If you wanted to make it very clear that he means himself, you could say:

• Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его, когда он говорит.
  – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him when he is speaking.

Is его definitely referring to the teacher, or could it be someone else?

Grammatically, его just means “him” (3rd person singular masculine, accusative). It does not automatically link back to учитель.

So in isolation, the sentence could mean:

• The teacher is asking the students not to interrupt him (the teacher), or
• The teacher is asking the students not to interrupt some other man that both sides know about.

In real usage, context usually makes it clear. If the speaker wants to avoid ambiguity, they might say:

• Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его, когда он объясняет материал.
  – more clearly “him” = the teacher.

Or, if it’s really some other person:

• Учитель просит студентов не перебивать директора.
  – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt the principal.

Can the word order of не перебивать его change, e.g. его не перебивать or просит его не перебивать?

Yes, Russian word order is quite flexible, especially with pronouns.

All of these are grammatically possible:

1. Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.
   – neutral, very common.

2. Учитель просит студентов его не перебивать.
   – also correct; slightly stronger emphasis on его (“him not to interrupt”), often used in speech.

3. Учитель просит его не перебивать.
   – different meaning: The teacher asks *him not to interrupt (someone).
   Here *его becomes the person being addressed, not the one interrupted.

Typical neutral ways to say your original meaning are (1) and (2), with (1) the most standard.

Why is it просит студентов, not просит у студентов?

Russian has two different patterns with просить:

1. просить кого (Accusative) + infinitive – ask someone to do something

   • Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.
     – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.

2. просить у кого (Genitive) + что – ask someone for something (to receive)

   • Я прошу у студента ручку. – I ask the student for a pen.
   • Он просит у родителей денег. – He asks his parents for money.

In your sentence, the teacher is asking the students to do / not do something, so the pattern is:

• просить кого? – студентов (Accusative)
• что делать? – не перебивать

Therefore: просит студентов, not просит у студентов.

Russian has no articles. How do we know if Учитель means “the teacher” or “a teacher”?

Russian does not mark definite vs. indefinite with articles like English (“the / a”). Instead, context and word order provide that information.

Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его is normally understood as:

• “The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.”
  – i.e. some known teacher in the situation.

You could also translate it as “A teacher asks students…” if you are introducing this situation for the first time, out of context. Both are possible; the Russian itself does not force one or the other.

General rule:

• If it’s clearly a known participant in the situation, English will often use “the”.
• If it’s being mentioned for the first time with no context, English may choose “a”.

If the teacher is a woman, would this sentence change?

You have two main options:

1. Keep учитель (grammatically masculine, but can refer to a female teacher in many contexts):

   • Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.
     In real use, if everyone knows the teacher is a woman, people often switch the pronoun:
   • Учитель просит студентов не перебивать её. – not to interrupt her.

2. Use the explicitly feminine noun учительница:

   • Учительница просит студентов не перебивать её.

So for a female teacher, the most straightforward version is:

• Учительница просит студентов не перебивать её.

How would the teacher say this directly to the students, instead of it being reported speech?

Directly addressing the students, Russian would normally use the imperative:

• Не перебивайте меня, пожалуйста.
  – Don’t interrupt me, please.

Or more simply:

• Пожалуйста, не перебивайте. – Please don’t interrupt.
• Не перебивайте, когда я говорю. – Don’t interrupt when I’m speaking.

Your original sentence is indirect / reported speech:

• Учитель просит студентов не перебивать его.
  – The teacher asks the students not to interrupt him.