Breakdown of Стоит учителю заговорить, как в классе становится тихо.
в
in
становиться
to become
учитель
the teacher
класс
the classroom
Questions & Answers about Стоит учителю заговорить, как в классе становится тихо.
What does стоит mean here? It normally means stands or costs, doesn’t it?
Here стоит is part of a fixed construction, not its usual everyday meaning.
The pattern is:
стоит + dative + infinitive, как ...
In this pattern, it means something like:
- it only takes ... for ...
- as soon as ...
- the moment ...
So:
Стоит учителю заговорить, как в классе становится тихо.
means roughly:
As soon as the teacher starts speaking, the classroom becomes quiet.
A more literal way to feel the structure is:
It only takes the teacher to start speaking, and the classroom goes quiet.
Also, this is different from sentences like Мне стоит это сделать, which can mean I should do it or It would be worth doing it. The presence of the second clause with как makes it clear that this is the as soon as / it only takes construction.
Why is учителю in the dative case instead of учитель?