Breakdown of Нельзя шуметь, когда ребёнок спит.
Questions & Answers about Нельзя шуметь, когда ребёнок спит.
Нельзя is an impersonal predicative word (a “category of state” word) meaning it’s not allowed / it’s forbidden / one must not. It doesn’t change for person, number, or gender, and it often forms sentences with no explicit subject: Нельзя + infinitive.
Russian commonly uses impersonal constructions for rules and prohibitions. Нельзя шуметь is understood as “Nobody should make noise / You mustn’t make noise,” without naming who exactly. If you add ты/вы, it becomes more direct and personal, e.g. Тебе нельзя шуметь = “You are not allowed to make noise.”
After нельзя, Russian typically uses the infinitive to name the action that’s prohibited:
- Нельзя курить = “No smoking.”
- Нельзя шуметь = “No making noise.” This is the standard pattern for general prohibitions.
They differ in tone and grammar:
- Нельзя шуметь: general rule/prohibition; more neutral/impersonal.
- Не шумите (polite plural/you-form) / Не шуми (informal singular): a direct command to someone. So the original sentence sounds like a rule or reminder rather than an order to a specific person.
Because когда ребёнок спит is a subordinate clause (“when the child is sleeping”). In Russian, a subordinate clause is normally separated by a comma from the main clause.
Because ребёнок is the subject of спит (“sleeps”), so it takes the nominative case: ребёнок спит = “the child is sleeping.”
ребёнка (genitive/accusative) would be used if the child were an object, e.g. Я вижу ребёнка = “I see the child.”
Спит is present tense, imperfective aspect (from спать). Russian present tense often covers “currently happening” and also general situations. Here it means “when the child is (in the state of) sleeping,” i.e. whenever that condition is true.
Yes, and it’s very common:
- когда ребёнок спит = “when(ever) the child is sleeping” (general condition).
- пока ребёнок спит = “while the child is sleeping” (emphasizes the whole duration). In this sentence, both are natural; пока often sounds a bit more like “during the time that.”
Шуметь is imperfective and fits general/ongoing “making noise” (noise as a process). Perfective versions are possible but change meaning:
- Нельзя пошуметь would sound like “you’re not allowed to make a bit of noise (for a while / once),” which is less typical here. For a general rule, the imperfective шуметь is the normal choice.