Questions & Answers about Если я забуду куртку дома, мне будет холодно в парке.
Why is there a comma after дома?
Russian normally separates the если (if) clause from the main clause with a comma.
So Если я забуду куртку дома, мне будет холодно в парке. = If …, then …
The comma is used even if the clauses are short.
Why is забуду (perfective) used instead of забываю / забуду́? What does the aspect mean here?
Забуду is perfective and refers to a single completed event in the future: if I end up leaving it behind / if I (happen to) forget it.
In если-clauses, Russian often uses the future perfective to talk about a future condition that may occur once.
If you used забываю (imperfective), it would tend to sound like a habitual/repeated situation: if I (regularly) forget my jacket at home…
Why does Russian use present/future forms after если instead of something like English If I forgot / If I forget?
Russian doesn’t use a special tense like English sometimes does in conditionals. It uses normal tense/aspect forms.
Here it’s a real future possibility, so you get:
- Если я забуду … (future perfective)
- … мне будет холодно … (future of быть)