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Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелкими монетами.

Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелкими монетами.
Please give me the change in small coins.

Breakdown of Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелкими монетами.

пожалуйста
please
дать
to give
сдача
the change
мелкий
small
монета
the coin
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Questions & Answers about Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелкими монетами.

Why is there a comma after Пожалуйста?

When пожалуйста is used as a parenthetical politeness word meaning please at the start of a sentence, it’s commonly set off by a comma: Пожалуйста, ....
If it’s integrated more tightly into the sentence, the comma may be omitted in informal writing, but Пожалуйста, дайте... is a very standard punctuation choice.

What form is дайте, and who am I addressing?

Дайте is the imperative of дать (to give) in the 2nd person plural. It can mean:

  • you (plural) give... (talking to multiple people), or
  • you (formal) give... (polite you to one person, e.g., a cashier)

So this sentence sounds politely directed to a service worker.

Why is the verb дать (perfective) used instead of давать (imperfective)?

In requests for a single completed action (a one-time result), Russian typically uses the perfective: дайте (give [once]/hand over).
Давайте (imperfective imperative) often sounds like let’s... or a more process-oriented/ongoing suggestion, and is less natural here for “hand me the change.”

What case is сдачу, and why?

Сдачу is accusative singular of сдача. It’s the direct object of дайте:
дайте (что?) сдачу = give (what?) the change.

Does сдача mean “handing in/submitting” like the verb сдавать?

Even though they’re related, сдача in everyday shop/cash contexts means change (money returned).
You’ll hear it constantly at stores: сдача = change, сдачу = the change (as an object).
The “submitting/ сдавать” meaning depends on context (e.g., сдача экзамена = taking/handing in an exam), but here it’s clearly money.

Why is it мелкими монетами—what case is that?

мелкими монетами is instrumental plural:

  • монетами = instrumental plural of монета (coin)
  • мелкими agrees with it (instrumental plural adjective)

Instrumental here expresses the means/form: give the change in small coins / using small coins.

Could I replace мелкими монетами with a single word?

Yes. A very common alternative is мелочью (instrumental of мелочь), meaning small change / coins:

  • Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелочью. (very natural, slightly more colloquial)

мелкими монетами is a bit more explicit and can sound slightly more “careful/clear.”

Does мелкими mean “small” as in physically small coins, or “low denomination”?

In this context it means small denominations (e.g., 1-, 2-, 5-, 10-ruble coins), not “tiny coins” physically.
So you’re asking for your change to be given as smaller units.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Дайте, пожалуйста, сдачу...?

Word order is flexible. Common variants include:

  • Пожалуйста, дайте сдачу мелкими монетами.
  • Дайте, пожалуйста, сдачу мелкими монетами.
  • Сдачу, пожалуйста, мелкими монетами. (more “spoken”, emphasizing change)

All are understandable; placement of пожалуйста just changes the rhythm/emphasis.

How do I pronounce this sentence (stress)?

ПожАлуйста, дАй(т)е сдАчу мЕлкими монЕтами.
Notes:

  • пожАлуйста: stress on А
  • дАй(т)е: stress on А; the т is often very soft/quick in speech
  • сдАчу: stress on the first А
  • мЕлкими: stress on Е
  • монЕтами: stress on Е