Word
Ты должен вытереть пыль с телевизора!
Meaning
You must wipe the dust off the television!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Ты должен вытереть пыль с телевизора!
ты
you (singular)
телевизор
television
должен
must, have to
с
off / down from (a surface)
Questions & Answers about Ты должен вытереть пыль с телевизора!
Why do we use с here for 'off' instead of из (from)?
In Russian, the preposition с is the exact spatial opposite of на. Because dust sits on top of the television (на телевизоре), taking it off requires с followed by the Genitive case (с телевизора). If you used из, it would mean taking dust out from inside the TV!
Why use the perfective verb вытереть instead of the imperfective вытирать?
The speaker is demanding a specific, one-time result: getting the TV clean right now. If they were talking about a regular, repeating chore (for example, 'you must wipe the dust every Sunday'), they would use the imperfective вытирать.
Пыль is the direct object being wiped. Why doesn't its ending change to show the Accusative case?
Пыль (dust) is a feminine noun that ends in a soft sign. For this specific group of feminine nouns, the Accusative case form is completely identical to the Nominative dictionary form, so it looks like it hasn't changed at all.
Does должен change if I am speaking to a woman?
Yes. Должен (must / obliged to) acts like a short adjective and must agree with the subject's gender. If you are telling a female that she must wipe the dust, you would say ты должна.