Делая упражнение, произноси все слова вслух.
While doing the exercise, pronounce all the words aloud.
Breakdown of Делая упражнение, произноси все слова вслух.
делать
to do
слово
word
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
упражнение
the exercise
Questions & Answers about Делая упражнение, произноси все слова вслух.
How is делая formed and what does it tell us in this sentence?
Делая is an imperfective verbal adverb. To form it, take the they-form of the imperfective verb делать (делают), drop the -ют, and add -я. It shows that this action is happening at the exact same time as the main action (произноси).
Why is there a comma after упражнение?
In Russian, phrases that contain a verbal adverb (like делая упражнение) must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. This is a strict punctuation rule that applies no matter where the phrase appears in the sentence.
What case is упражнение in, and why?
It is in the accusative case. Verbal adverbs keep the same case requirements as the verbs they come from. Because the verb делать takes a direct object in the accusative case, the verbal adverb делая does exactly the same thing.
Why is the imperative verb произноси imperfective here?
The command произноси (pronounce) is imperfective because it describes an ongoing, continuous process. You are instructed to continuously pronounce the words the entire time you are doing the exercise, rather than just completing a single action.
What is the literal meaning behind the adverb ?