Breakdown of Мне должны выплатить зарплату завтра утром.
Questions & Answers about Мне должны выплатить зарплату завтра утром.
In Russian, with the meaning (someone) owes (something) to someone / (someone) is supposed to (do something) for someone, the person who is “owed to” is often put in the dative:
- мне = to me So Мне должны выплатить зарплату literally works like To me they must/are obliged to pay (my) salary.
должны is the short-form predicate of должен (to be obliged / supposed to / expected to). It’s plural because the subject is implicit and understood as they (e.g., your employer, accounting, the company):
- (Они) должны = They are supposed/required to If it were he or she, you’d use:
- (Он) должен
- (Она) должна If it were a single neutral “it” (e.g., the company as an entity), you’d often still use plural in real life if you mean people, but grammatically you could also see должно in other contexts.
Russian often omits the subject when it’s obvious from context. Here it’s understood as something like:
- (Они) должны выплатить … = They are supposed to pay… You can add it if you want to be explicit:
- Мне они должны выплатить зарплату завтра утром. (more emphatic/contrastive)
No. They flip who has the obligation.
- Мне должны выплатить зарплату. = They owe me / They are supposed to pay me (my salary).
- Я должен выплатить зарплату. = I must/should pay the salary (to someone). So мне is the recipient of the action, not the person obligated.
After должен/должны, Russian typically uses an infinitive to express what must be done:
- должны + infinitive = are obliged to + verb So должны выплатить = are obliged to pay out.
- выплатить focuses on paying out something that is due (wages, compensation, debt), often in full.
- заплатить is more general: to pay (for something / to someone).
- платить is imperfective: to be paying / to pay regularly. For salary, выплатить зарплату is a very common official/HR/accounting-style phrase.
выплатить (perfective) presents the payment as a completed one-time result—the salary will be paid out (finished action). If you used imperfective, you’d get different meanings, for example:
- Мне должны выплачивать зарплату… = They are supposed to pay me salary (on an ongoing/regular basis)…
Because it’s the direct object of выплатить (to pay out what?):
- выплатить зарплату (accusative) If it were plural or a different noun, you’d still put the thing being paid in the accusative.
Yes, very often. Russian commonly omits possessives when it’s clear whose thing it is:
- выплатить зарплату in this context naturally means pay (me) my salary You can add мою for emphasis/contrast:
- Мне должны выплатить мою зарплату завтра утром. That can sound more emotionally charged or clarifying.
Yes, and the focus changes.
- Мне должны выплатить зарплату… puts emphasis on me (it’s to me / I’m the one owed).
- Должны выплатить мне зарплату… is more neutral and can sound slightly more “businesslike.”
- Зарплату мне должны выплатить… emphasizes salary (as the topic/contrast).
Time expressions like завтра утром are commonly used without a preposition:
- завтра утром = tomorrow morning You could also say:
- завтра с утра = tomorrow from the morning (onward) (often means “starting in the morning”)
- утром alone = in the morning (general)
Common stresses:
- Мне (one syllable)
- должны́
- выплати́ть
- зарпла́ту
- за́втра
- у́тром Approximate pronunciation (very rough): mne dalzh-NY vy-pla-TEET zar-PLA-tu ZAV-tra OO-tram.