Word
Успей закрыть окно, прежде чем начнётся град.
Meaning
Close the window in time before the hail starts.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Успей закрыть окно, прежде чем начнётся град.
окно
the window
закрыть
to close
град
the hail
прежде чем
before
Questions & Answers about Успей закрыть окно, прежде чем начнётся град.
Why does the sentence start with Успей? What does that verb form mean?
Успей is the imperative (command/request form) of the perfective verb успеть (to manage to do something in time / to succeed in doing something before it’s too late).
So Успей закрыть окно means (Make sure you) manage to close the window (in time)—it implies urgency and a deadline.
Why is it Успей (perfective) and not Успевай?
Russian often uses:
- perfective imperative for a single, completed result: Успей закрыть окно = get it done (before a deadline)
- imperfective imperative for process/repetition/ongoing habit: Успевай is less natural here and would sound like keep managing to…, or could be used in contexts like Успевай записывать (keep up and write it down).
Here you need one completed action (the window ends up closed), so Успей fits best.
Why is the second verb закрыть in the infinitive?