Breakdown of Реквизиты карты никому не показывайте.
Questions & Answers about Реквизиты карты никому не показывайте.
What does реквизиты mean here? Why is it plural?
In this sentence, реквизиты means the card’s details or information needed to use/identify it.
With a bank card, this can include things like:
- the card number
- expiry date
- cardholder name
- sometimes security-related details
It is normally used as a plural noun in Russian, much like details in English. So реквизиты карты is very natural for card details.
Why is it карты and not карта?
Because карты is in the genitive singular.
The phrase реквизиты карты literally works like:
- реквизиты = details
- карты = of the card
So the structure is basically the details of the card.
This is a very common pattern in Russian:
- номер телефона = phone number
- обложка книги = cover of the book
- реквизиты карты = card details
Why is никому in the dative case?
Because the verb показывать often takes:
- a direct object = what is being shown
- an indirect object in the dative = to whom it is being shown
So here:
- реквизиты карты = what you are showing
- никому = to nobody / to no one
The logic is:
- показывать что? = to show what?
- показывать кому? = to show to whom?
So никому не показывайте literally means do not show [them] to anyone.
Why is it не показывайте and not some other form like не покажите?
Russian usually prefers the imperfective imperative for general negative instructions:
- не показывайте = don’t show / never show
This sounds like a normal rule, warning, or standing instruction.
The verb показывать is imperfective. Its perfective partner is показать.
Very roughly:
- не показывайте = don’t show it, as a rule
- не покажите would sound unusual here
In warnings and instructions, Russian commonly uses:
- Не курите. = Don’t smoke.
- Не входите. = Do not enter.
- Не сообщайте пароль. = Do not give your password.
- Не показывайте реквизиты карты. = Do not show your card details.
Why does показывайте end in -йте?
Because this is the imperative form, and specifically the polite/plural imperative.
From показывать, you get:
- показывай = show! / don’t show! when speaking to one person informally
- показывайте = show! / don’t show! when speaking:
- politely to one person, or
- to more than one person
So this sentence is either:
- a polite warning to one person, or
- an instruction addressed to multiple people
In public notices, customer messages, and formal instructions, -йте forms are very common.
Is this sentence formal or polite?
Yes, it sounds polite/formal rather than casual.
Using показывайте instead of показывай makes it appropriate for:
- bank messages
- security warnings
- customer service language
- notices for the general public
A bank, website, or employee would naturally say:
- Реквизиты карты никому не показывайте.
To a close friend, you might also hear:
- Никому не показывай реквизиты карты.
Same idea, but more informal.
Why is the word order Реквизиты карты никому не показывайте? Could it be different?
Yes, the word order could be different. Russian word order is more flexible than English.
This sentence could also be:
- Никому не показывайте реквизиты карты.
- Не показывайте никому реквизиты карты.
All of these are grammatical.
The version you were given starts with Реквизиты карты, which puts the focus first on the card details themselves. That works well in warnings, where the important object is often mentioned first.
A version beginning with Никому puts stronger emphasis on to no one.
Does никому не mean to nobody or to anybody?
It means to nobody / to no one, but in natural English we often translate the whole phrase as don’t show it to anyone.
This is a very important Russian pattern:
- никто не = nobody doesn’t? No — in Russian this correctly means nobody
- ничего не = nothing
- никому не = to nobody / to no one
Russian normally uses negative pronouns together with the negative particle не.
So:
- никому не показывайте literally = show to no one not
- natural meaning = don’t show it to anyone
This double negative is standard in Russian.
Could I say данные карты instead of реквизиты карты?
Yes, sometimes, but the nuance is a little different.
- реквизиты карты sounds very common in banking, payments, and security language
- данные карты also means card data/details, and is common too
In many situations they are close in meaning. But реквизиты often sounds a bit more like official/payment details, while данные is broader and more general.
For a security warning, реквизиты карты sounds very natural.
Does показывать only mean literally show visually? What if I tell someone the card number out loud?
Good question. Literally, показывать means to show. But in a sentence like this, it is often understood more broadly in a security context:
- don’t show the card
- don’t reveal the details
- don’t let others see them
If you want to explicitly include telling someone, Russian might use verbs like:
- сообщать = to communicate, tell
- передавать = to pass on
- разглашать = to disclose
For example:
- Никому не сообщайте реквизиты карты. = Do not tell anyone your card details.
- Не разглашайте реквизиты карты. = Do not disclose your card details.
But не показывайте is still very natural if the warning is about letting others see the information.
Why isn’t there a word for you in the sentence?
Because Russian often leaves out the subject pronoun when the verb already shows who is meant.
Here, показывайте already tells you this is an imperative addressed to:
- you politely, or
- you all
So Russian does not need вы.
If you added it, it would usually sound more emphatic:
- Вы никому не показывайте реквизиты карты.
But the normal neutral version is without the pronoun.
Is this a complete sentence on its own, or does it sound like part of a longer warning?
It is a completely natural standalone sentence.
It sounds like the kind of brief instruction you might see:
- in a banking app
- in a fraud warning
- in a text message from a bank
- in a customer security notice
Russian often uses short imperative sentences for warnings, so this sounds perfectly complete and idiomatic.
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