Пожалуйста, сохраните талон, пока ждёте врача.

Please keep the ticket while you are waiting for the doctor.

Breakdown of Пожалуйста, сохраните талон, пока ждёте врача.

• пожалуйста: please
• ждать: to wait
• врач: the doctor
• пока: while
• сохранить: to keep
• талон: the ticket

Questions & Answers about Пожалуйста, сохраните талон, пока ждёте врача.

Why is сохраните used, and what form is it?

Сохраните is the imperative of the perfective verb сохранить (to keep / to save / to preserve).
It’s the 2nd person plural imperative, which is also the normal polite/formal way to give an instruction to one person (like English please keep…).

---

What’s the difference between сохраните and сохраняйте?

They’re both imperatives, but with different aspect:

• сохраните (perfective): keep it (don’t lose it), as a one-time result.
• сохраняйте (imperfective): keep preserving/keeping it as an ongoing habit/process, or repeated action.

In a clinic instruction, сохраните талон usually means don’t throw it away; keep it until needed.

---

What does талон mean here?

Талон is a common word in medical/clinic contexts for a ticket/slip—for example an appointment slip, queue ticket, or a referral/visit coupon depending on the system.
It’s not necessarily a “coupon” in the discount sense; it’s more like a small paper that proves your place/appointment.

---

Why is it талон (accusative) but врача (genitive)?

• сохраните (что?) талон: the verb сохранить takes a direct object in the accusative (here it looks the same as nominative because талон is inanimate masculine).
• ждать (кого?) врача: the verb ждать commonly governs the genitive for the person/thing being waited for. So врача is genitive singular of врач.

(You may also see accusative with ждать in some contexts, but ждать врача is the most standard/neutral.)

---

How does пока work in this sentence?

пока here means while / as long as.
пока ждёте врача = while you’re waiting for the doctor.
Using the present tense (ждёте) after пока is normal when referring to a current or general situation.

---

Why is ждёте in the plural form?

ждёте is 2nd person plural present tense of ждать. Russian uses this form for:

• talking to multiple people (you all), or
• polite/formal you to one person (like Вы).

It matches the polite imperative сохраните.

---

Is the comma necessary: …, пока ждёте врача?

Yes. The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate clause introduced by пока.
Main clause: Пожалуйста, сохраните талон
Subordinate clause: пока ждёте врача

---

Why is пожалуйста at the beginning, and can it move?

Пожалуйста is a politeness marker (please). It’s flexible:

• Пожалуйста, сохраните талон…
• Сохраните, пожалуйста, талон…
• Сохраните талон, пожалуйста, пока ждёте врача.

All are natural; placement changes emphasis slightly but not the core meaning.

---

How should I pronounce ждёте, and why is there ё?

ждёте is pronounced with yo: roughly zh-DYO-tye.
In many printed texts, ё is often written as е (so you might see ждете), but the pronunciation remains ждёте in standard speech.

---

Could this sentence be said in a less formal way?

Yes—using the informal ты forms:

• Пожалуйста, сохрани талон, пока ждёшь врача.

Here сохрани is the informal singular imperative, and ждёшь is 2nd person singular present tense.