Кассир попросил меня сохранить чек.

The cashier asked me to keep the receipt.

Breakdown of Кассир попросил меня сохранить чек.

• сохранить: to keep
• попросить: to ask
• кассир: cashier
• я: me
• чек: receipt

Questions & Answers about Кассир попросил меня сохранить чек.

Why is попросил in the masculine past form?

Because the subject кассир (cashier) is grammatically masculine, so the past-tense verb agrees with it: кассир попросил.
If the cashier is a woman, you can still say кассир попросил (profession nouns are often masculine by default), but it’s also common to use feminine agreement in real speech: кассир попросила.

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What case is кассир in, and why?

Кассир is in the nominative case because it’s the subject (the one doing the asking). It answers “who?” in the sense of “who asked?”

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Why is it меня and not я?

Because попросить takes a direct object: “to ask someone.”
So you need the accusative form of я → меня (“me”).
Pattern: попросить кого? + infinitive / or + о чём (about what).

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Does попросить always take the accusative like this?

When it means “to ask/request (someone) to do something,” yes:

• попросить меня сделать… (ask me to do…)
  It can also be used differently, e.g. “to ask for something”:
• попросить чек (ask for the receipt)
  And there are other “asking” verbs with different patterns (e.g. спросить у кого “ask someone (a question)”).

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Why is there an infinitive сохранить after попросил?

Russian commonly uses the structure:
(someone) попросил (someone) + infinitive = “asked (someone) to do (something).”
So попросил меня сохранить literally: “asked me to keep/save.”

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What’s the difference between сохранить and сохранять here?

сохранить is perfective: a one-time, completed action (“keep it / make sure it’s kept”).
сохранять is imperfective: ongoing or habitual (“to be keeping / to keep in general”).
In a specific request like this, Russian often prefers perfective: попросил сохранить чек.

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Why is чек not changed—what case is it?

Чек is in the accusative singular as the direct object of сохранить (“keep what?”).
For masculine inanimate nouns like чек, nominative and accusative often look the same: чек.

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Could I also say сохранить этот чек or сохранить чекик/чек etc.?

Yes:

• сохранить этот чек = “keep this receipt” (more specific).
• Diminutives like чекик exist but are informal and situation-dependent; the neutral everyday word is чек.

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Is the word order fixed? Could it be Меня попросил кассир сохранить чек?

Word order is flexible, but it changes emphasis:

• Кассир попросил меня сохранить чек. (neutral)
• Меня попросил кассир сохранить чек. (emphasizes me, e.g., not someone else)
• Кассир попросил сохранить чек. (drops меня; more general, like “the cashier asked to keep the receipt,” context decides who)

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How would this sound as direct speech (what the cashier actually said)?

Common direct versions:

• Сохраните, пожалуйста, чек. (polite: “Please keep the receipt.”)
• Сохраните чек. (neutral/firm)
• Чек сохраните. (more emphasis on чек)

Your sentence is a reported statement about that request.

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Could I replace попросил with сказал?

You can, but the meaning shifts:

• попросил = asked/requested (polite or at least “as a request”)
• сказал = said/told (more like giving an instruction)
  So Кассир сказал сохранить чек sounds more like “The cashier told (me) to keep the receipt,” and often you’d include мне: Кассир сказал мне сохранить чек.

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Why isn’t there чтобы (like “asked that I keep the receipt”)?

Russian can express this idea either way:

• Infinitive (very common): попросил меня сохранить чек
• Full clause: попросил, чтобы я сохранил(а) чек
  The infinitive version is usually shorter and more natural when the subject being asked is clear (меня).

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How do I pronounce this sentence (stress)?

Stress (bolded vowel):

• касси́р
• попроси́л
• меня́
• сохрани́ть
• чек (one syllable)

So: Кассир попросил меня сохранить чек.