Questions & Answers about Не стой около огня!
Why do we use the imperfective verb стой here instead of a perfective one?
This ties right into the current lesson! In Russian, when giving a negative command (telling someone not to do something), you almost always use the imperfective aspect. Because we are saying do not stand (не стой), the imperfective form is required.
How do we get the command form стой from the infinitive стоять?
To make an imperative, you start with the they form in the present tense: они стоят (they stand). Drop the -ят ending to get the stem сто-. Because the stem ends in a vowel, we add -й to make the command for you (informal singular), giving us стой.
Why is the word for fire spelled огня instead of огонь?
The preposition около (near) forces the noun that follows it into the genitive case. The dictionary word for fire is огонь. When adding the masculine genitive ending -я, the second о disappears because it is a fleeting vowel, and the soft sign ь is replaced by the ending, leaving us with огня.
What if I wanted to tell a group of people, or someone I address formally, not to stand near the fire?
You would simply add -те to the end of the informal command. The sentence would become Не стойте около огня!
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