Breakdown of Почему бы нам не встретиться в обед и не перекусить в новом кафе?
Questions & Answers about Почему бы нам не встретиться в обед и не перекусить в новом кафе?
Is Почему бы нам не…? actually a real “why” question, or is it a suggestion?
It’s usually a polite suggestion (a rhetorical “why not…?”), not a request for reasons.
Почему бы нам не встретиться…? ≈ “Why don’t we meet…?” / “How about we meet…?”
It can be answered with agreement/refusal rather than an explanation: Давай! / Не получится.
What does бы do here?
бы is a particle that adds a hypothetical/softening tone (related to conditional/subjunctive meaning). In this pattern it makes the suggestion less direct and more polite:
- Почему бы нам не… = “Why wouldn’t we… (as an idea)?”
Without бы, Почему нам не… sounds more blunt/unusual as a suggestion and more like a literal question.
Why is нам used instead of мы?
Because the construction is basically “Why not for us to…”, so Russian uses the dative: нам (to/for us).
This is common with infinitives where English would use a subject + verb:
- Нам встретиться (lit. “For us to meet”) rather than мы встречаемся.
Why are the verbs встретиться and перекусить in the infinitive?
After почему бы (кому) не… Russian normally uses the infinitive to propose an action in general, without choosing tense/person:
- Почему бы нам не + infinitive
It’s like “Why not + verb” in English: “Why not meet and grab a bite…?”
Why is встретиться reflexive (-ся)?
встретиться is the standard verb for “to meet (each other)”—a mutual action, so Russian often uses a reflexive form.
Compare:
- встретить = to meet someone / to encounter (often one-sided: “I met him”)
- встретиться = to meet up (arranged meeting, mutual)
Why is there не after Почему бы нам if the sentence isn’t negative?
In this idiom, не is part of the fixed “why not” suggestion pattern. It doesn’t mean you’re proposing “not meeting”; it’s the Russian way to express “Why don’t we… / Why not…”.
So Почему бы нам не встретиться? is positive in intent.
Why is не repeated: …и не перекусить?
Because the idiom is applied to each proposed action: не встретиться + не перекусить. Repeating не is very natural and often expected in Russian with this structure.
You can sometimes omit the second не in casual speech, but it may sound less smooth; repeating it keeps the parallelism clear.
What’s the difference between перекусить and пообедать here?
перекусить = “to have a quick snack / grab a bite” (usually light, informal).
пообедать = “to have lunch” (more neutral/full meal).
So this sentence suggests something casual: meet around lunchtime and eat something small in the new café.
Does в обед mean exactly “at noon,” or “at lunchtime”?
Usually “at lunchtime / around midday,” not necessarily exactly 12:00.
If you want to be precise, you’d use something like в двенадцать (at 12) or около часа (around one).
Why is it в новом кафе—what case is новом in?
After в meaning location (“in/at”), Russian typically uses the prepositional case.
- в кафе (café is indeclinable here, so it doesn’t change)
- в новом кафе: новом is prepositional masculine/neuter singular agreeing with кафе.
Could I replace this with Давай…? What’s the nuance difference?
Yes, but the tone changes:
- Почему бы нам не встретиться…? = more “suggestive,” slightly more polite/indirect
- Давай встретимся… = more direct “Let’s meet…”
Both are common; почему бы… не can sound a bit more conversationally tactful, especially if you’re not sure the other person is free.
More from this lesson
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning RussianMaster Russian — from Почему бы нам не встретиться в обед и не перекусить в новом кафе to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions