Breakdown of Мы пьём на кухне, чтобы никто не пролил воду.
не
not
вода
water
мы
we
пить
to drink
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
кухня
kitchen
никто
nobody
чтобы
in order to
пролить
to spill
Questions & Answers about Мы пьём на кухне, чтобы никто не пролил воду.
Why use the perfective verb пролил with не here? Doesn't negation usually take the imperfective?
Often, yes! But when you want to prevent an accidental action, you use не + Perfective. Just like the warnings in this lesson, the perfective aspect here focuses on avoiding a sudden, unwanted result—in this case, accidentally spilling the water.
Why is пролил in the past tense when we are talking about a general rule or future result?
The conjunction чтобы (so that) has a strict rule: it must be followed by either an infinitive or a past tense verb. Because the two halves of the sentence have different subjects (мы drink, никто spills), you must use the past tense in the second clause, even though the meaning is not about the past.
Why are both никто and не used together?
Russian uses mandatory double negatives. Whenever you use a negative pronoun like никто (nobody) or ничего (nothing), you still have to put не before the verb. It translates to a single negative in English.
Why do we say на кухне instead of в кухне for 'in the kitchen'?
While в кухне is technically possible, на кухне is the traditional and far more common way to say 'in the kitchen' in Russian. It is in the Prepositional case here to show location.
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