Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.

It is impolite to shout at a child.

Breakdown of Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.

• на: at
• ребёнок: the child
• кричать: to shout
• невежливо: impolite

Questions & Answers about Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.

Why is кричать in the infinitive with no subject? Where is the “it” from “It’s impolite to shout at a child”?

Russian often uses an impersonal construction with the infinitive to express general statements like English “It is … to do X.”

Structure here:

• Кричать на ребёнка – “to shout at a child” (infinitive phrase)
• невежливо – “is impolite” (predicative adverb)

There is no explicit subject (no “it”). The whole infinitive phrase functions like the subject in English:

• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.
  ≈ To shout at a child is impolite. / It is impolite to shout at a child.

This pattern is very common:

• Опаздывать нехорошо. – Being late is not good.
• Курить вредно. – It’s harmful to smoke.

What grammatical form is ребёнка, and why not ребёнок?

Ребёнка is accusative singular of ребёнок (“child”).

• Nominative: ребёнок – the basic dictionary form (“a child” as subject).
• Genitive: ребёнка
• Accusative (for an animate noun): ребёнка (same form as the genitive)

Animate masculine nouns in the singular usually have:

• Accusative = Genitive (when referring to a person/animal)
  • Я вижу ребёнка. – I see a child.
• Inanimate nouns usually have:
  • Accusative = Nominative
  • Я вижу стол. – I see a table.

In кричать на ребёнка, the child is the “target” of the shouting, so we need the accusative form: ребёнка.

Why на ребёнка? What’s the difference between кричать на ребёнка and кричать ребёнку / кричать на ребёнке?

The choice of preposition (or no preposition) with кричать changes the meaning:

1. Кричать на кого? – “to shout at someone” (angrily, scolding)

   • Кричать на ребёнка – to shout at a child (reproach, anger).
   • Preposition на
     • accusative: direction/target of aggressive action.

2. Кричать кому? – “to shout to someone” (to be heard, not necessarily angry)

   • Кричать ребёнку – to shout to the child (so they hear you; e.g. from far away).
   • Dative case (ребёнку) without preposition.

3. Кричать на ребёнке – grammatically possible, but different meaning:

   • на + prepositional usually means “on top of / on the surface of”.
   • So literally “shout on the child (physically on him)” – sounds absurd in normal speech.

In the sentence you gave, the intended meaning is “shout at a child (in anger)”, so кричать на ребёнка is the correct and natural phrase.

What part of speech is невежливо, and how is it related to вежливый?

Невежливо is an adverb, formed from the adjective вежливый (“polite”).

• вежливый – polite (adjective)
  • Он вежливый. – He is polite.
• вежливо – politely (adverb)
  • Он говорит вежливо. – He speaks politely.
• невежливо – impolitely; “impolite” in the sense “it is impolite”
  • Кричать на ребёнка невежливо. – It is impolite to shout at a child.

In sentences like yours, adverbs often function as predicative words describing a situation:

• Здесь холодно. – It is cold here.
• Так говорить грубо. – It is rude to speak like that.
• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо. – It is impolite to shout at a child.

Why is невежливо written as one word and not не вежливо?

With many adverbs formed from adjectives, не is written together when it creates a straightforward opposite meaning:

• вежливо – politely
• невежливо – impolitely, not polite (as a general quality)

Невежливо here is a single lexical item meaning “impolitely / it is impolite”.

Writing it separately (не вежливо) is only used when you strongly contrast it with another word:

• Он говорит не вежливо, а официально.
  – He speaks not politely, but formally.

In your sentence, we are not contrasting; we’re simply describing rudeness, so the correct form is невежливо (one word).

Could we change the word order and say Невежливо кричать на ребёнка? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.
• Невежливо кричать на ребёнка.

Both are grammatically correct and natural. The meaning is the same; the difference is only in slight emphasis:

• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.
  – Mild focus on the action “to shout at a child.”
• Невежливо кричать на ребёнка.
  – Mild focus on the evaluation “it is impolite.”

There is also a version with a dash, which is common in writing:

• Кричать на ребёнка — невежливо.

This just makes the “X is Y” structure more visually explicit; pronunciation and meaning are the same.

Why is it кричать (imperfective) and not крикнуть (perfective)?

Russian uses imperfective infinitives to talk about general actions, habits, rules, or evaluations:

• Курить вредно. – It’s harmful to smoke.
• Опаздывать плохо. – Being late is bad.
• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо. – It’s impolite to shout at a child.

The perfective infinitive крикнуть refers to a single, completed act (“to give one shout / to shout once”), so:

• Крикнуть на ребёнка невежливо.
  sounds odd as a general rule; it would only make sense in some very specific, stylized or meta-linguistic context.

For general moral or behavioral rules, use the imperfective: кричать.

Can we add это and say Кричать на ребёнка — это невежливо? Is that better or different?

Yes, this is also correct:

• Кричать на ребёнка — невежливо.
• Кричать на ребёнка — это невежливо.

Both are acceptable. Adding это:

• makes the structure even closer to English “X is Y”
• can sound a bit more explicit or didactic (like explaining to a child)

In everyday speech, all three versions are normal:

• Кричать на ребёнка невежливо.
• Кричать на ребёнка — невежливо.
• Кричать на ребёнка — это невежливо.

How do you pronounce кричать and ребёнка? Where is the stress?

Stress and pronunciation:

• кричать – [кричáть]

  • Stress on the last syllable: -чать
  • “и” as in machine, “ч” like ch in church (but softer).

• ребёнка – [ребьо́нка]

  • Stress on ё (which is always stressed in standard Russian spelling rules).
  • ё is pronounced like yo in york: бьо́ ≈ “byo.”
  • The soft sign (ь) softens the preceding б.

In many printed texts, ё is written as е (so you might see ребенка), but it is still pronounced ребёнка.

How would you say “It’s impolite to shout at children” or “at your child” instead of “at a child”?

You can easily adapt the noun phrase:

1. Plural “children”:

   • Кричать на детей невежливо.
     – It’s impolite to shout at children.

   Детей is the genitive/accusative plural of дети (“children”).

2. “At your child”:

   • Кричать на своего ребёнка невежливо.
     – It’s impolite to shout at your (own) child.
   • Кричать на вашего ребёнка невежливо.
     – It’s impolite to shout at your child.
     (formal or plural “your”; вашего is masculine accusative.)

The rest of the structure (кричать на … невежливо) stays exactly the same.

Is this sentence neutral, formal, or colloquial in style?

The sentence Кричать на ребёнка невежливо. is neutral in style:

• It’s perfectly fine in spoken and written Russian.
• It could be used by a parent, teacher, psychologist, or in an etiquette book.
• The vocabulary (кричать, ребёнок, невежливо) is standard and common.

So you can safely use this sentence in almost any everyday or semi-formal context.