Word
Если мне не хватит денег на платёж, я попрошу банк о рассрочке.
Meaning
If I don’t have enough money for the payment, I’ll ask the bank for an installment plan.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Если мне не хватит денег на платёж, я попрошу банк о рассрочке.
Why does the sentence start with Если, and why is there a comma?
Если introduces a conditional clause (If ...). In Russian, when a subordinate clause with если comes before the main clause, you normally separate the two parts with a comma:
- Если ... , я ... If you reverse the order, the comma is still usually used:
- Я попрошу банк о рассрочке, если ...
Why is it мне and not я in Если мне не хватит денег?
Because the verb хватить / хватать (in the meaning to be enough) is used in a structure that’s closer to to be sufficient for someone. The person who lacks something is expressed in the dative case:
- мне = to me / for me (dative) So Мне не хватит денег literally works like There won’t be enough money for me.
What is the difference between не хватит and не хватает?
- не хватает = present tense, imperfective: is not enough / isn’t enough (in general or right now)
- не хватит = future, perfective: will not be enough (at that time / in that situation) In a conditional about a future situation, Russian commonly uses the future form не хватит.