Word
Не могли бы Вы сказать, какая длина у этой полки и поместится ли она между окном и дверью?
Meaning
Could you tell me what the length of this shelf is and whether it will fit between the window and the door?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Не могли бы Вы сказать, какая длина у этой полки и поместится ли она между окном и дверью?
дверь
the door
и
and
не
not
окно
the window
Questions & Answers about Не могли бы Вы сказать, какая длина у этой полки и поместится ли она между окном и дверью?
Why does the sentence begin with Не могли бы Вы сказать...? Does it literally mean Couldn’t you say...?
It literally contains не + могли бы, so word-for-word it looks like Could you not say..., but in real Russian this is a very common polite formula meaning:
- Could you tell me...
- Would you be able to say...
- Would you mind telling me...
So Не могли бы Вы сказать... is a soft, polite request, not a negative complaint.
A few similar polite openings are:
- Не могли бы Вы помочь? — Could you help?
- Не могли бы Вы повторить? — Could you repeat that?
This use of не makes the request more polite, not truly negative.
Why is Вы capitalized?
Capital Вы is a polite written form when addressing one person respectfully, similar to formal you.
So here:
- Вы = polite/formal singular you
- вы can also mean plural you, or sometimes informal lowercase polite usage in less formal writing
In modern Russian, capitalizing Вы is common in formal letters, business communication, customer service, and other respectful contexts. In everyday writing, many people just write вы.