Log inSign up

Не стоит выбрасывать чек: он может пригодиться.

Не стоит выбрасывать чек: он может пригодиться.
It’s not worth throwing away the receipt: it may come in handy.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Russian now

Questions & Answers about Не стоит выбрасывать чек: он может пригодиться.

What does не стоит + infinitive mean grammatically, and who is the “subject”?

Не стоит выбрасывать… is an impersonal construction meaning “it’s not worth (doing)” / “you shouldn’t (do it)”.
There is no grammatical subject in Russian here; it’s like English “It’s not worth throwing away the receipt.”

Why is it выбрасывать (imperfective) and not выбросить (perfective)?

With не стоит + infinitive, Russian often uses the imperfective to give general advice about an action as a type of behavior: “don’t go throwing it away / it’s not worth throwing away.”
Выбросить would sound more like a single, specific act (“don’t throw it away (this one time)”), and it’s less typical with не стоит in neutral advice.

What case is чек in, and why?

Чек is direct object of выбрасывать, so it’s in the accusative.
For many masculine inanimate nouns like чек, accusative = nominative, so it looks unchanged: чек.

What exactly does чек mean here? Is it “check” like a restaurant bill?

In Russian, чек usually means a receipt (cash-register receipt).
A restaurant bill can be счёт (more common for “the bill”), while чек is what you keep as proof of purchase.

What does the colon (:) do in Не стоит выбрасывать чек: он может пригодиться?

The colon introduces an explanation / reason / clarification:
“Don’t throw away the receipt: it might come in handy.”
You could also see a dash (—) in similar sentences; the colon is slightly more “bookish”/explanatory.

Why is он used—what does it refer to, and why not это?

Он refers back to чек, which is masculine. Russian pronouns must match the noun’s gender and number:

  • чек → он
    Это is not a normal “he/it” replacement pronoun in this kind of reference; это is more like “this/that (as a concept)” or used in definitions.
What does может mean here—“can” or “might”?

Here может is best understood as “might / may”: it expresses possibility, not ability.
So он может пригодиться = “it might be useful / it may come in handy.”

What is пригодиться, and why does it end in -ся?

Пригодиться means “to be of use / to come in handy.”
The -ся is a reflexive marker, but in many verbs it creates a meaning like “become/turn out to be …” or a passive-like sense. Here it’s basically “to be useful (in some situation)”.

Is пригодиться perfective or imperfective, and does that matter?

Пригодиться is perfective. It points to a potential one-time usefulness at some point: “it may come in handy (at some moment).”
The imperfective partner is пригодиться / пригодиться? (in practice, the perfective is the common everyday form for “come in handy”; the imperfective meaning “be useful (generally)” is often expressed with other verbs like быть полезным).

How would the sentence change if we made it more direct, like “Don’t throw away the receipt”?

A more direct imperative would be:

  • Не выбрасывай чек. (informal singular)
  • Не выбрасывайте чек. (formal/plural)
    Using не стоит sounds softer and more like advice: “it’s not worth throwing it away.”
How is стоит pronounced and what does it normally mean?

Стоит is pronounced with stress on the second syllable: стоИт.
It can mean:

  • “costs”: Сколько это стоит? (“How much does it cost?”)
  • “is worth (doing)” in стоит + infinitive: Стоит посмотреть. (“It’s worth watching.”)
    Here it’s the “worth doing” meaning.
Could I replace выбрасывать with another verb like выкидывать?

Yes. Выкидывать is a very common colloquial alternative:

  • Не стоит выкидывать чек: он может пригодиться.
    Both mean “throw away,” with выкидывать feeling a bit more conversational and выбрасывать slightly more neutral.