Breakdown of Пожалуйста, перешли письмо начальнице по электронной почте.
Questions & Answers about Пожалуйста, перешли письмо начальнице по электронной почте.
Why is it перешли and not перешлите?
Перешли is the imperative for ты (informal singular: “you”). If you’re speaking politely or to more than one person, you’d normally use перешлите (imperative for вы).
- Informal: Пожалуйста, перешли…
- Formal / plural: Пожалуйста, перешлите…
What verb is перешли from, and how is the imperative formed?
It comes from the perfective verb переслать (“to forward / to send along”).
Imperative formation here:
- переслать → (perfective imperative, ты) перешли
- переслать → (perfective imperative, вы) перешлите
This is one of those cases where the stem changes (not a simple -й ending).
Why is a perfective verb used here? Could I say пересылай?
Perfective перешли focuses on completing the action once: “forward it (once), get it done.”
Imperfective пересылай (from пересылать) is more like:
- an ongoing process (“be forwarding…”),
- a repeated/habitual action (“forward (things) regularly”),
- or a less “completed” instruction.
In a typical one-time request like this, perfective перешли / перешлите is the natural choice.
Why is письмо in this form—what case is it?
письмо is in the accusative (direct object): “forward the letter/email.”
For neuter nouns like письмо, nominative and accusative look the same:
- Nominative: письмо
- Accusative: письмо
Why is начальнице in the dative case?
Because it expresses the recipient (“to whom?”). With verbs of sending/forwarding, the recipient is typically in the dative:
- переслать (что?) письмо (кому?) начальнице
So начальнице = “to (the) female boss.”
What if the boss is male, or if I don’t want to specify gender?
Male boss:
- Пожалуйста, перешли письмо начальнику… (dative of начальник)
If you want a more neutral/role-based option, you can often use a title or position name (which may still have grammatical gender), e.g. руководителю (“to the manager/leader”), директору (“to the director”).
What does по электронной почте mean grammatically? What case is почте?
по + dative is a very common way to express means/channel of communication.
- по (чему?) по́чте → dative singular of почта
So по электронной почте = “by email / via email.”
Could I also say электронной почтой instead of по электронной почте?
Yes. Both can mean “by email,” but they feel a bit different:
- по электронной почте (common, “via email” as a channel)
- электронной почтой (instrumental: “by means of email”; also correct, sometimes a bit more “instrument-like”)
In everyday instructions, по электронной почте is extremely common.
Why is there a comma after Пожалуйста?
When пожалуйста is used as a parenthetical politeness word (“please”) at the beginning, it’s often set off with a comma:
- Пожалуйста, перешли…
You may sometimes see it without a comma in informal writing, but the comma is standard and recommended.
Where can пожалуйста go in the sentence?
It’s flexible:
- Пожалуйста, перешли письмо… (very common)
- Перешли, пожалуйста, письмо… (also very common in speech)
- Перешли письмо, пожалуйста, начальнице… (possible, slightly more marked)
All mean the same; placement mainly affects emphasis and rhythm.
Does письмо here mean a physical letter or an email?
It can mean either, depending on context. Since the sentence adds по электронной почте, here it strongly implies an email/message being forwarded.
(If you wanted to be extra explicit, you could say письмо (email) in context, but in Russian письмо is often enough.)
How is this sentence typically stressed/pronounced?
Common stresses:
- пожАлуйста
- переШли
- письмО
- начальнИце
- электрОнной
- пОчте
So: ПожАлуйста, переШли письмО начальнИце по электрОнной пОчте.
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