Если хочешь отвечать точнее, сначала выслушай вопрос до конца.

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Breakdown of Если хочешь отвечать точнее, сначала выслушай вопрос до конца.

• хотеть: to want
• отвечать: to answer
• вопрос: the question

Questions & Answers about Если хочешь отвечать точнее, сначала выслушай вопрос до конца.

Why is there no ты in Если хочешь?

In Russian, the subject pronoun is often omitted when it is obvious from the verb ending.

• хочешь = you want
• The ending -ешь already shows that the subject is ты

So Если хочешь... naturally means If you want... or, in context, If you want to...

Including ты is possible, but it usually adds emphasis or contrast:

• Если ты хочешь отвечать точнее... = If you want to answer more precisely...

Without emphasis, leaving ты out sounds more natural.

Why is хочешь in the present tense if the sentence is talking about what someone should do in the future?

Russian often uses the present tense after если (if) when talking about a real or likely condition, just like English can do:

• If you want to answer more precisely, ...

This is not a past or hypothetical situation. It is a general condition: whenever this condition is true, the advice applies.

So:

• Если хочешь... = If you want...
• not necessarily If you will want...

This is normal Russian usage.

Why is it отвечать, not ответить?