Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.

Don’t be nervous; you’re worrying for nothing.

Breakdown of Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.

• не: not
• ты: you
• нервничать: to be nervous
• зря: foolishly
• переживать: to worry

Questions & Answers about Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.

What are the forms нервничай and переживаешь grammatically (tense, person, mood)?

• нервничай comes from нервничать (to be nervous).

  • Mood: imperative (a command or request)
  • Person/number: 2nd person singular (talking to ты)
  • Aspect: imperfective

• переживаешь comes from переживать (to worry, to be anxious; also “to go through something emotionally”).

  • Tense: present
  • Person/number: 2nd person singular (ты)
  • Mood: indicative (a statement, not a command)
  • Aspect: imperfective

So the sentence literally is: Не нервничай (imperative), ты зря переживаешь (present indicative).

How is the imperative нервничай formed from the verb нервничать?

The infinitive is нервничать. For the informal ты-imperative:

1. Take the они form in the present: они нервничают.
2. Remove -ют → нервнича-.
3. Add -й (in spelling it becomes -й after а/я) → нервничай.

So:

• ты нервничаешь = you are nervous
• не нервничай = don’t be nervous / stop being nervous

Formal/plural would be не нервничайте.

Why is it не нервничай and not something like не нервничайся with -ся?

Нервничать is already intransitive (it doesn’t take a direct object) and naturally means “to be nervous,” “to be on edge.” Russian doesn’t normally add -ся to this verb in standard speech.

Compare:

• волноваться (already reflexive) = to worry / to be anxious
• нервничать (non‑reflexive) = to be nervous

So the correct negative imperative is не нервничай, not *не нервничайся.

Why is one verb in the imperative (не нервничай) and the other in the present tense (ты зря переживаешь)?

The sentence combines:

1. A direct instruction / calming command:

   • Не нервничай – Don’t be nervous; calm down.

2. A reassuring statement explaining why:

   • Ты зря переживаешь – You’re worrying for nothing; your worry is unnecessary.

So the structure is: command + reason. Russian often uses this pattern:

• Не плачь, всё будет хорошо. – Don’t cry, everything will be fine.
• Не волнуйся, ты всё сделаешь правильно. – Don’t worry, you’ll do everything correctly.

What exactly does зря mean here? Is it “in vain” or “for nothing”?

Зря literally means “in vain, for no good reason, needlessly.”

In this sentence:

• ты зря переживаешь = you’re worrying for nothing / needlessly.

Depending on context and tone, good natural translations include:

• “You’re worrying for nothing.”
• “You don’t need to worry.”
• “You’re worrying more than you should.”

So зря emphasizes that the emotion is unjustified, pointless, unnecessary.

What is the nuance difference between переживать, волноваться, and нервничать?

They overlap, but there are subtle differences:

• переживать

  • Core idea: to worry, to be upset, to go through something emotionally.
  • Can be softer and more about inner emotional experience.
  • Can also mean “to live through, to experience” (e.g. пережить войну – to live through the war).

• волноваться

  • To worry, to be anxious, to be agitated.
  • Very common neutral verb for “to worry.”
  • Can be both emotional and a bit physical (heart racing, etc.).

• нервничать

  • To be nervous, to be on edge; often implies visible tension or irritability.
  • Slightly more about nervous behavior/condition than deep emotion.

In this sentence:

• Не нервничай – don’t be so tense/nervous.
• ты зря переживаешь – emotionally, you are worrying when you don’t need to.

They nicely complement each other: external nervousness + inner worry.

Why isn’t the second clause also in the imperative, like ты зря переживай?

An imperative *ты зря переживай would sound strange here because you don’t normally command someone to “worry in vain.” It would be like saying “Go ahead, worry for nothing.”

The speaker’s intention is:

• Command: Don’t be nervous.
• Statement of fact / reassurance: You’re worrying for nothing.

So Russian naturally uses:

• Imperative for what the listener should do: не нервничай.
• Indicative present for what is actually happening: ты зря переживаешь.

Why is there no subject pronoun in Не нервничай, but there is ты in ты зря переживаешь?

Russian imperatives usually omit the subject pronoun, just like English:

• (Ты) не нервничай. – (You) don’t be nervous.
• (Вы) не нервничайте. – (You) don’t be nervous.

The ты in the second clause is optional but natural for emphasis and clarity:

• Ты зря переживаешь. – You are the one who’s worrying for nothing.

Without ты, Зря переживаешь is still correct and common in conversation; it sounds a bit more casual and elliptical.

How would this sentence change if I wanted to address someone formally or talk to more than one person?

For formal “you” or plural “you”, you switch to вы-forms:

• Informal singular:

  • Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.

• Formal/plural:

  • Не нервничайте, вы зря переживаете.

Verb endings switch to -йте / -ете with вы. The meaning is the same, but вы is respectful or plural.

Can I change the word order to Ты зря переживаешь, не нервничай? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Ты зря переживаешь, не нервничай.

The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus shifts slightly:

• Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.

  • First: “Calm down.”
  • Then: “Because you’re worrying for nothing.”
  • Sounds like a direct soothing instruction followed by explanation.

• Ты зря переживаешь, не нервничай.

  • First: “You’re worrying for nothing.”
  • Then: “Don’t be nervous.”
  • Sounds more like stating a fact first, then giving the advice.

Both are natural; intonation will further color whether it sounds more comforting or more like a mild scolding.

What about pronunciation and stress in не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь?

Approximate stresses:

• не нервничай – не́ нервничай
  
  • Не usually unstressed, main stress on не́р‑: НЕ́Р-вни-чай.
• ты – unstressed in normal speech.
• зря – one syllable, stressed by default.
• переживаешь – пережива́ешь
  
  • Stress on ва́: пе-ре-жи-ВА́-ешь.

Rough phonetic guide (Latin letters, very approximate):

• Не нервничай → ne NERV-nichay
• ты зря переживаешь → ty zrya pere-zhI-VÁ-yesh (with rolled or tapped r, zh as in “measure”).

Is the comma between Не нервничай and ты зря переживаешь required? Why is it there?

Yes, the comma is standard. In Russian, you usually put a comma between two independent clauses even if there is no conjunction:

• Не нервничай, ты зря переживаешь.
  = (1) Don’t be nervous, (2) you’re worrying for nothing.

Each part could stand alone as a complete sentence:

• Не нервничай.
• Ты зря переживаешь.

Since both are independent and just placed side by side, Russian punctuation rules require a comma between them.

How would this sentence sound in natural English, and what is the emotional tone in Russian?

Natural translations:

• “Don’t be nervous, you’re worrying for nothing.”
• “Relax, you’re worrying for no reason.”
• “Calm down, you really don’t need to worry.”

Tone in Russian depends on intonation, but by default it tends to be:

• Reassuring / calming if said gently.
• Can sound a bit scolding or impatient if stressed sharply (especially НЕ нервничай with strong emphasis).

Context and voice will decide whether it feels more like comfort or mild rebuke, but grammatically it’s a very common, everyday way to comfort someone.