Breakdown of Если ребёнок заговорит, то мама обрадуется.
мама
mom
ребёнок
child
если
if
то
then (in that case)
обрадоваться
to become glad
заговорить
to start speaking
Questions & Answers about Если ребёнок заговорит, то мама обрадуется.
How does the prefix за- change the meaning of the verb говорить here?
It creates the perfective verb заговорить, which means "to start talking." The prefix за- is often added to verbs of sound, emotion, or action to indicate a sudden, spontaneous, or new beginning. Here, it perfectly captures the anticipated milestone of a baby speaking for the first time.
Why is заговорит in the future tense if the English translation says "starts" in the present tense?
In English "if" clauses about the future, we usually use the present tense ("If the baby starts..."). Russian is more literal: since the baby speaking and the mother being happy are both events that haven't happened yet, Russian puts both verbs in the future tense (заговорит and обрадуется).
What is the purpose of the word то in the middle of the sentence?
It means "then" and pairs with Если (If) to create an "If..., then..." structure (Если ..., то ...). While you can sometimes drop то in casual speech and just use a comma, including it is very common and helps clearly bridge the condition and the result.
I know the word рад (glad), but how do we get the verb обрадуется?
Обрадуется is the future tense of the perfective verb обрадоваться (to become happy / to rejoice). Remember that for verbs ending in -овать, the -ова- changes to -у- when conjugated. The stem becomes обраду-, to which we add the "she" ending -ет and the reflexive particle -ся.
Learn Если ребёнок заговорит, то мама обрадуется and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free