Breakdown of Чтобы не нарушать закон, мы решили идти пешком.
не
not
мы
we
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
пешком
on foot
решить
to decide (perfective)
чтобы
in order to
нарушать
to break (rules, laws)
закон
the law
Questions & Answers about Чтобы не нарушать закон, мы решили идти пешком.
Why is нарушать (imperfective) used here instead of the perfective нарушить?
In Russian, negative purpose clauses (чтобы не + infinitive) strongly prefer the imperfective aspect. Similar to how нельзя + imperfective means an action shouldn't be done, чтобы не нарушать means 'to actively avoid breaking' the law on purpose. If you used the perfective (чтобы не нарушить), it would change the meaning to 'so as not to accidentally break' it.
We made a specific, one-time decision. Why use the imperfective идти instead of the perfective пойти after решили?
Normally, specific decisions do take the perfective (like решили пойти for 'decided to set off'). However, here the focus is entirely on the mode of transport: walking instead of driving. When you want to emphasize the process or the type of action you chose, rather than just the completion of setting off, you use the imperfective.
Since the verb is negated (не нарушать), shouldn't закон be in the genitive case instead of the accusative?
You are thinking of the 'Genitive of Negation,' which is a great rule to remember! However, in modern Russian, it is optional and mostly used for abstract concepts or to emphasize a total lack of something. For concrete, specific direct objects like закон (the law), the standard accusative case is much more common and natural.
Could we just say мы решили пешком and drop the verb идти?
No, you need the verb! Пешком is an adverb meaning 'on foot'. Just like you wouldn't say 'we decided on foot' in English without implying a verb, in Russian you must include a verb of motion like идти to show what action is actually being carried out.
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