Log inSign up

Если мне надоест ждать такси, я пойду пешком до метро.

Если мне надоест ждать такси, я пойду пешком до метро.
If I get tired of waiting for a taxi, I will walk to the metro.

Breakdown of Если мне надоест ждать такси, я пойду пешком до метро.

я
I
пойти
to go
мне
me
если
if
ждать
to wait
метро
the metro
до
to
такси
the taxi
пешком
on foot
надоесть
to get tired (of)
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Russian now

Questions & Answers about Если мне надоест ждать такси, я пойду пешком до метро.

Why is there a comma in the middle of the sentence?

Russian normally uses a comma between the если (if) clause and the main clause:

  • Если мне надоест ждать такси, (subordinate clause)
  • я пойду пешком до метро. (main clause)

This is standard punctuation even when English might sometimes omit it.

Why does надоест look like a future tense even though it’s in an если (“if”) clause?

Надоесть is a perfective verb. Perfective present forms don’t mean “present”; they typically mean future.
So мне надоест = “I will get tired / I will become fed up.”

In Russian, если + perfective future is normal for “if (at some point) X happens, then Y.”

Why is it мне and not я? Who is the subject of надоест?

With надоесть (and some similar verbs), Russian often expresses the experiencer as dative:

  • мне = “to me / for me” → “I (will) get tired”

Grammatically, the thing that causes the feeling can be treated as the subject or as an implied cause. In this sentence, the idea is “If waiting for a taxi becomes tiresome to me…”

So мне is not the subject in the nominative sense; it’s the experiencer in the dative case.

Why is ждать in the infinitive? Why not a finite verb like “I wait”?

After надоесть, Russian commonly uses an infinitive to say what action becomes annoying:

  • надоест + infinitive = “to get tired of doing …”
  • мне надоест ждать = “I’ll get tired of waiting”

You can also say мне надоест ожидание такси (“the waiting for the taxi will annoy me”), but the infinitive is very natural.

Is ждать такси “to wait for a taxi” or “to wait on a taxi”?
It means to wait for a taxi. Russian uses ждать + (genitive or accusative depending on meaning/usage) without a preposition for “wait for.” Here it’s simply ждать такси.
Why doesn’t такси change its ending? What case is it?

Такси is an indeclinable noun (a loanword). It keeps the same form in all cases:

  • ждать такси
  • нет такси
  • к такси, etc.

In this sentence it functions as the object of ждать, but its form doesn’t show case.

Why is it я пойду, not я иду?

Пойду is the perfective future of идти and means a single, decided action: “I’ll go / I’ll set off.”

  • я пойду = “I’ll go (I’ll leave and start walking)”
  • я иду = “I’m going (right now)” or sometimes “I go (habitually)” depending on context

Here the meaning is a plan that will happen after a condition, so пойду fits.

What does пешком mean grammatically? Is it a noun, adverb, or something else?

Пешком functions as an adverbial word meaning “on foot / walking.”
Historically it comes from an instrumental-type form, but for a learner it’s easiest to treat it as an adverb that answers “how?”:

  • пойду (как?) пешком
Why is it до метро and not something like к метро?

Both exist, but they differ in nuance:

  • до метро = “as far as the metro (station)” / “until the metro” (endpoint-focused)
  • к метро = “toward the metro” / “to the metro” (direction-focused)

With пешком, до метро is very common when you mean you’ll walk up to the metro as your destination.

Why is метро also not changing? What case is it after до?

The preposition до requires the genitive case.
Normally you’d expect a genitive form, but метро is also indeclinable, so it doesn’t change:

  • до + genitive → до метро (same surface form)
What is the usual word order, and can it be changed?

The neutral structure here is very typical:

  • Если + clause, main clause.

You can change it for emphasis:

  • Я пойду пешком до метро, если мне надоест ждать такси.

Within clauses, Russian word order is flexible, but changes often add emphasis (e.g., stressing такси or пешком).

Could I replace Если with Когда here? What would change?

If you use Когда мне надоест ждать такси, я пойду пешком до метро, it suggests “when I get tired (and I expect that to happen), I’ll go…”.
Если keeps it more conditional: “if I get tired (maybe I will, maybe I won’t).”