Log inSign up

Я положил права в кошелёк, чтобы не забыть их дома.

Я положил права в кошелёк, чтобы не забыть их дома.
I put my driver’s license in my wallet so as not to forget it at home.

Breakdown of Я положил права в кошелёк, чтобы не забыть их дома.

я
I
в
in
дома
at home
не
not
забыть
to forget
положить
to put
их
them
чтобы
so as to
права
driver's license
кошелёк
wallet
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Russian now

Questions & Answers about Я положил права в кошелёк, чтобы не забыть их дома.

Why is права plural if it means (a) driver’s license?

In Russian, водительские права (driving rights / license) is normally used in the plural: права. Even when talking about one physical card, Russians typically say права (plural).
You can think of it as “driving privileges/entitlements” rather than a single “license” document. (Similar to how some languages treat “scissors” as plural.)

What does Я положил tell me (tense/aspect/gender)?

Положил is:

  • Past tense
  • Perfective aspect (a completed, one-time action: I put/placed (and it’s done))
  • Masculine form (because the speaker is assumed male).
    If the speaker were female: Я положила права в кошелёк…
Why is it положил, not клал?

Both can mean “put,” but:

  • положил (perfective) = put (once), finished result matters
  • клал (imperfective past) = was putting / used to put / put repeatedly, process focus

Here the idea is: I put them in (and now they’re there) so I won’t forget them. That’s a typical perfective situation.

Why is it в кошелёк and not в кошельке?

Because в + accusative is used for motion into something:

  • положил (куда?) в кошелёк = put into the wallet

в + prepositional is used for location:

  • они (где?) в кошельке = they are in the wallet

So:

  • Action of placing → в кошелёк
  • Resulting location → в кошельке
What case is кошелёк here?

It’s accusative singular (same form as nominative for many masculine inanimate nouns):
кошелёк (Nom.) → кошелёк (Acc.)

Why is их used, and what exactly does it refer to?

их means them and refers to права.
Russian doesn’t have separate accusative forms for 3rd-person plural pronouns in the same way English does; их is used as the object “them” (also used for “their”).

Here: чтобы не забыть их дома = so as not to forget them at home.

Could I say чтобы не забыть дома without их?

Sometimes, yes—if context is very clear. But их makes it explicit what you might forget.
Without их, забыть дома can sound slightly incomplete or more conversational, because “forget at home” usually implies an object.

Why is it чтобы не забыть, and not something like чтобы не забывал?

чтобы + infinitive is the most common pattern for purpose:

  • чтобы не забыть = so that (I) don’t forget (even once)

Using чтобы + past or чтобы + present is different and often expresses wishes/commands or requires different structure.
Also, не забыть (perfective) fits the idea of avoiding a single failure: not to end up forgetting them.

Why is забыть perfective here? Would не забывать be wrong?

Not wrong, but it changes nuance:

  • не забыть (perfective) = not to forget (at some point / not to end up forgetting)
  • не забывать (imperfective) = not to forget habitually / to remember regularly

In this sentence, the speaker wants to prevent one specific mistake (leaving the license at home), so не забыть is very natural.

What is дома grammatically? Is it a noun in some case?

дома here is an adverb meaning at home. It’s historically related to a case form, but in modern Russian you can treat it as a fixed adverb answering где? (“where?”).

So забыть их дома = forget them at home / leave them at home by forgetting them.

Does забыть их дома mean “forget them while at home” or “leave them at home”?

In everyday Russian, забыть что-то дома usually means to leave something at home by forgetting to take it.
So the practical meaning is: I put my license in my wallet so I wouldn’t leave it at home.

Is the word order fixed? Can I move parts around?

Word order is flexible, but it affects emphasis. Common variants:

  • Я положил права в кошелёк, чтобы не забыть их дома. (neutral)
  • Чтобы не забыть их дома, я положил права в кошелёк. (emphasizes the purpose)
  • Я положил в кошелёк права… (slightly emphasizes the destination в кошелёк)

All are grammatically fine.

Why is ё written in кошелёк? Can it be written as е?

The correct spelling is кошелёк with ё (stress is on -лёк: ko-she-lyok).
In many Russian texts, ё is often printed as е, so you may see кошелек, but it’s pronounced кошелёк.