Breakdown of Тот, кто ищет ведьму, обязательно найдёт злого духа.
кто
who / whoever
найти
to find
обязательно
definitely
искать
to look for
Questions & Answers about Тот, кто ищет ведьму, обязательно найдёт злого духа.
Why does the sentence start with Тот, кто instead of just Он, кто for 'He who'?
In Russian, you cannot translate 'he who' literally as он, кто. To say 'he who' or 'the one who', you must use the demonstrative pronoun тот (that one) paired with the relative pronoun кто (who). Тот acts as a placeholder in the main sentence, and кто introduces the clause that describes the person.
Are the commas strictly necessary around кто ищет ведьму?
Yes! In Russian, relative clauses (parts of the sentence starting with words like кто, что, or который) must always be separated by commas. Since the clause кто ищет ведьму is tucked inside the main thought (Тот... обязательно найдёт), it requires a comma at its start and at its end.
Why do we use the present tense ищет (seeks) but the future tense найдёт (will find)?
This is a common pattern for general statements and proverbs. Ищет (from искать) is imperfective present because it describes an ongoing, open-ended action ('is in the process of seeking'). Найдёт (from найти) is perfective future because it focuses on the guaranteed, one-time result ('will successfully find') that concludes the search.
Why does злого духа have genitive endings if it is the direct object being found?