Разве спасательница не сказала, что при пожаре нельзя пользоваться лифтом?

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Breakdown of Разве спасательница не сказала, что при пожаре нельзя пользоваться лифтом?

• сказать: to say
• что: that
• лифт: the elevator

Questions & Answers about Разве спасательница не сказала, что при пожаре нельзя пользоваться лифтом?

What does разве mean here?

Разве often introduces a question that expresses surprise, doubt, or a reminder of something the speaker thought was already known.

In this sentence, it gives the sense of:

• Didn’t the female rescuer say... ?
• But didn’t the female rescuer say... ?
• Surely the female rescuer said... ?

So the speaker is not asking a neutral question. They seem to expect the answer to be yes and are surprised that someone may be acting as if that warning was never given.

Why is the verb negative: не сказала?

Because Russian often uses a negative question to express the idea Didn’t X say...?

So:

• сказала = said
• не сказала? = didn’t say?

Together with разве, this sounds like a reminder or a mildly surprised challenge:

• Разве спасательница не сказала...?
  = Didn’t the female rescuer say...?

This does not necessarily mean the speaker thinks she did not say it. In fact, the speaker probably believes that she did say it.

Why is it спасательница and not спасатель?