Learn Hardcore Russian: Мне лучше бы было взять с собой термос с какао, потому что на остановке я чуть не замёрз. - It would have been better for me to take a thermos of cocoa with me, because I almost froze at the bus stop.

Word

Мне лучше бы было взять с собой термос с какао, потому что на остановке я чуть не замёрз.

Meaning

It would have been better for me to take a thermos of cocoa with me, because I almost froze at the bus stop.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Мне лучше бы было взять с собой термос с какао, потому что на остановке я чуть не замёрз.

Why does the sentence start with мне, not я?

Because this is an impersonal construction.

In Russian, ideas like it would be better for me to... are often expressed with:

So:

Russian does not say this as Я лучше бы было... because я would be the subject, and this structure does not really have a normal subject.

What does лучше бы было взять mean grammatically?

This combination expresses regret about a better action that was not taken.

It breaks down like this:

Together, it means something like:

So the speaker is looking back and saying that taking a thermos would have been the better choice.

Why are both and used? Doesn’t that seem repetitive?