Breakdown of Уберите инструменты. Разводной ключ положите в ящик, уплотнительную ленту — отдельно.
в
in
положить
to put
ящик
the drawer
отдельно
separately
Questions & Answers about Уберите инструменты. Разводной ключ положите в ящик, уплотнительную ленту — отдельно.
Why is it уберите and положите? What does the -те ending mean?
The -те ending marks the imperative in a polite or plural form.
So уберите and положите can mean:
- a command to one person, politely
- or a command to more than one person
Compare:
- Убери = put away / remove (to one person, informal)
- Уберите = put away / remove (to one person politely, or to several people)
The same applies to:
- Положи = put
- Положите = put (polite/plural)
Why are both verbs perfective: уберите and положите?
Russian often uses the perfective imperative when the speaker wants the action to be done completely and to reach a result.
Here the meaning is not just be putting things away in a general sense, but:
- Уберите инструменты = put the tools away
- Положите в ящик = place it into the drawer
Perfective commands often sound natural for one-time, completed actions.
If you used the imperfective, it could sound more like:
- a repeated instruction
- a process
- or a softer/general direction depending on context
So in this sentence, perfective is the normal choice.
Why is инструменты the same as the dictionary form? Shouldn’t it change after уберите?