To describe an action that instantly triggers a result ("as soon as" or "one had only to... for..."), Russian uses the construction стоило ... как.
It follows a specific formula:
- стоило
- Logical subject in the Dative case
- Initial action as an Infinitive
- , как
- Resulting action in the Past tense
| As soon as the firefighter received the call, the crew set off to the fire. | Стоило пожарному получить вызов, как экипаж отправился на пожар. |
Notice how пожарный (firefighter) becomes the Dative пожарному, followed by the infinitive получить.
The logical subject can be a person, an inanimate object (like an alarm), or a pronoun:
| As soon as the alarm went off, the dispatcher jumped up from fear. | Стоило сигнализации сработать, как диспетчер вскочил от страха. |
| As soon as the flame flared up, the duty officer grabbed the fire extinguisher. | Стоило пламени вспыхнуть, как дежурный схватил огнетушитель. |
When the logical subject is a pronoun, it also takes the Dative case (for example, мы becomes нам):
| As soon as we began to extinguish the fire, the water ran out, so we stepped back. | Стоило нам начать тушить пожар, как вода закончилась, так что мы отступили. |
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