Breakdown of Студент не должен смешивать опасные вещества, пока не спросит учителя.
не
not
студент
student (m)
учитель
teacher
спросить
to ask (perfective)
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
опасный
dangerous
смешивать
to mix
вещество
substance
пока не
until
Questions & Answers about Студент не должен смешивать опасные вещества, пока не спросит учителя.
Why is there a не in пока не спросит when the English translation just says 'until he asks'?
In Russian, пока не is the standard way to express 'until'. You can think of it literally as 'as long as he does not'. Whenever you are waiting for a specific event to happen before something else is allowed, you use пока не to show that the waiting period ends once the action is finally completed.
Why is спросит in the perfective future tense here?
After пока не meaning 'until', we use the perfective aspect because the action of asking must be completely finished before the student can mix the substances. It is in the future tense because this successful asking hasn't happened yet.
Why use the imperfective verb смешивать (to mix) instead of the perfective смешать?
In Russian, strict prohibitions usually require the imperfective aspect. When you combine не должен (must not) with the imperfective смешивать, it strongly expresses 'must not do this action at all' as a general rule.
Is учителя in the genitive case after the verb спросит?
It looks like the genitive, but it is actually the accusative case. The verb спросить (to ask) takes a direct object in the accusative. Because учитель (teacher) is a masculine animate noun, its accusative form changes to match the genitive form.
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