Log inSign up

Возьми зарядку с собой: она пригодится в дороге.

Возьми зарядку с собой: она пригодится в дороге.
Take the charger with you: it will come in handy on the road.

Breakdown of Возьми зарядку с собой: она пригодится в дороге.

с
with
дорога
the road
в
on
взять
to take
она
it
собой
oneself
зарядка
the charger
пригодиться
to come in handy
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Russian now

Questions & Answers about Возьми зарядку с собой: она пригодится в дороге.

Why does зарядку end in -у? What case is that?

Зарядка is feminine nominative singular. After возьми (take), the direct object goes in the accusative.
For most feminine nouns ending in -а / -я, the accusative singular changes to -у / -ю:

  • зарядка (Nom.) → зарядку (Acc.)
    So the phrase literally is Take (a) charger.
What’s the difference between Возьми and Бери here?

Both can translate as take, but the aspect changes the nuance:

  • Возьми (imperative of perfective взять) = take it (once), make sure you take it → a single, completed action.
  • Бери (imperative of imperfective брать) = take (in general / habitually / start taking), or can sound like go ahead, take it depending on context.
    In advice like this, Возьми is very common because it means don’t forget—take it with you.
Why is it с собой and not с тобой?

С собой is the standard Russian way to say with you / with oneself when the subject is already clear (here, an implied you from the imperative возьми).

  • Возьми … с собой = Take … with you
    С тобой is possible, but it usually emphasizes you as a person (with you, together with you) and can sound less neutral in this “bring it along” meaning.
What exactly does с собой mean grammatically? What case is с using?

The preposition с meaning with takes the instrumental case:

  • с
    • Instrumental → с собой
      Here собой is the instrumental form of себя (oneself). So it’s literally with oneself, idiomatically with you.
Why does the sentence use a colon: с собой: она пригодится…?

The colon signals an explanation or reason:
Take the charger with you: it will be useful on the road.
It’s close in meaning to because / since / it’ll come in handy. In Russian, a colon often links two clauses when the second explains the first without an explicit conjunction.

What does пригодится mean, and why is it reflexive (-ся)?

Пригодиться means to come in handy / to be useful (at some point).
It’s naturally used in this reflexive form in Russian; English doesn’t translate the reflexive part directly.
So она пригодится = it will come in handy / it will be useful.

Is пригодится present tense or future tense?

It’s future, because пригодиться is perfective. Perfective verbs don’t have a true present tense meaning; their “present-form” conjugation refers to the future:

  • пригодится = will come in handy (not “is coming in handy”)
Why is it она пригодится? What does она refer to?

Зарядка is grammatically feminine, so the pronoun referring to it is она (she/it).
Even though in English you’d say it, Russian matches the noun’s grammatical gender:

  • зарядка (f.) → она
What does в дороге mean here, and what case is дороге?

В дороге means on the road / while traveling / during the trip.
After в meaning in/during, Russian uses the prepositional case:

  • дорога → дороге (Prepositional)
    So в дороге is literally in (the state of) traveling.
Could I also say в пути or по дороге instead of в дороге?

Yes, with slightly different typical usage:

  • в дороге = while traveling, often emphasizing the trip as a process.
  • в пути = also en route / while on the way, a bit more “travel/status” sounding.
  • по дороге = often on the way (somewhere) and can imply during the route, possibly stopping or doing something: По дороге зайдём в магазин (We’ll stop by the store on the way).
    In your sentence, в дороге or в пути are the closest matches.