Я так и не решил, стоит ли ставить вазу у окна или лучше оставить её на полке.

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Breakdown of Я так и не решил, стоит ли ставить вазу у окна или лучше оставить её на полке.

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Questions & Answers about Я так и не решил, стоит ли ставить вазу у окна или лучше оставить её на полке.

What does так и не mean in Я так и не решил?

Так и не is a very common pattern meaning never actually managed to, still didn’t, or in the end didn’t.

So Я так и не решил means more than just I didn’t decide. It suggests that the speaker was expected to decide, probably thought about it, but the decision still never happened.

A close English equivalent is:

• I still haven’t decided
• I never did decide

Why is it решил, not решал?

Решил is the past tense of the perfective verb решить. Perfective verbs focus on the result or completion of an action.

Here, the speaker means: I never reached a decision.

If you used решал, that would come from the imperfective решать, which usually means was deciding, used to decide, or was trying to decide. That would shift the focus to the process, not the final outcome.

So:

• Я не решил = I didn’t decide / I haven’t decided
• Я не решал = I wasn’t deciding / I didn’t make decisions / I wasn’t in the process of deciding

In this sentence, the missing result is what matters, so решил is the natural choice.

Why is there ли in стоит ли ставить?