Держись за перила, когда поднимаешься по лестнице.

Hold on to the handrail when you are going up the stairs.

Breakdown of Держись за перила, когда поднимаешься по лестнице.

• когда: when
• по: up
• лестница: the stairs
• подниматься: to go up
• перила: the handrails
• держаться за: to hold on to

Questions & Answers about Держись за перила, когда поднимаешься по лестнице.

Why is держись written with -сь? Is it reflexive?

Yes. The base verb is держать (to hold). In this sentence you need держаться (to hold on / to hold oneself, i.e., to keep a grip), which is a reflexive verb.
So держись = imperative of держаться (informal ты form): Hold on (to something).
Without reflexive (держи) it would mean hold (something), e.g. Держи сумку (Hold the bag).

---

What form is держись exactly (tense/mood/person)? What would the polite/plural version be?

Держись is the imperative, 2nd person singular (addressing ты).
Polite/plural: Держитесь за перила, когда поднимаетесь по лестнице. (addressing вы).

---

Why is it держись за перила—what case is used after за?

Here за means (hold) onto and it takes the accusative case.

• за + accusative with the idea of grabbing/holding onto: держаться за что? (grammatically accusative in this use)
  So перила here are in the accusative plural, but they look the same as nominative plural because перила is a plural-only noun.

---

Why is перила plural? Is there a singular form?

Перила is usually a plural-only noun in Russian (like scissors in English). It refers to a railing/railings as a set.
A common singular alternative is поручень (handrail, one rail):

• Держись за поручень. = Hold onto the handrail.

---

Why does the second verb look like present tense: когда поднимаешься? Isn’t it talking about the future?

Russian often uses the present tense of the imperfective to express a general instruction / repeated situation:

• когда поднимаешься = when(ever) you are going up / when you go up (in general)
  It’s not “present right now” necessarily; it’s a generic “whenever this happens.”

---

What’s the difference between поднимаешься and поднимешься in this sentence?

• поднимаешься (imperfective) = when you are going up / whenever you go up (habitual, process-focused).
• поднимешься (perfective) = when you go up (and complete it), more about the one-time completion.

For safety instructions and general advice, поднимаешься is more natural: it focuses on the action in progress.

---

Why is it поднимаешься (reflexive) and not just поднимаешь?

Because the meaning is to go up (yourself), i.e. подниматься = to rise / to climb / to go up.
Without -ся, поднимать usually means to lift/raise something:

• Ты поднимаешь сумку = You are lifting the bag.
• Ты поднимаешься по лестнице = You are going up the stairs.

---

Why is it по лестнице—what case is лестнице?

По here means along / via / on (by means of) and it requires the dative case:

• по лестнице = along the staircase / using the stairs
  So лестница → dative singular лестнице.

---

Could it also be по лестницам or по лестнице вверх? What changes?

Yes, depending on context:

• по лестнице = up a particular staircase (one set of stairs).
• по лестницам (dative plural) = up staircases in general / multiple flights or staircases.
• вверх по лестнице = explicitly upwards up the stairs, more specific direction emphasis.

---

Is the comma necessary: Держись за перила, когда...?

Yes. Когда... introduces a subordinate clause (when...), and Russian normally separates it with a comma:

• Main clause, когда + subordinate clause.

---

Is the word order fixed? Can I move когда... to the beginning?

You can move it, and the meaning stays basically the same:

• Держись за перила, когда поднимаешься по лестнице.
• Когда поднимаешься по лестнице, держись за перила.
  Starting with когда... often sounds a bit more “instructional” or structured.

---

How do you pronounce the tricky parts, especially держись and поднимаешься?

Key points:

• держись: stress on the second syllable: дер-ЖИСЬ. The final -сь is a soft s’ sound.
• поднимаешься: по-ди-МА-ешь-ся (stress on ма). In fast speech -ешься can sound somewhat compressed, but the -ся remains a soft ending.