Breakdown of Не говори об этом при детях.
это
this / it is
не
not
ребёнок
child
говорить
to speak, to talk
при
in the presence of, under, at
Questions & Answers about Не говори об этом при детях.
Why does this sentence use при instead of перед for 'in front of'?
In English, we say 'in front of,' which often means a physical location (like standing in front of a building, translated as перед). However, here the meaning is 'in the presence of' or 'while the children are around.' For this concept of presence or conditional inclusion, Russian uses the preposition при followed by the Prepositional case.
What case is детях and how is it formed?
It is in the Prepositional case, which is always required after the preposition при. The word for children, дети, has irregular plural endings, and its Prepositional plural form is детях.
Why is it об этом instead of о этом?
The preposition о (about) changes to об when the following word begins with a vowel. Since этом starts with the vowel э, we use об to make it easier to pronounce, similar to using 'an' instead of 'a' in English.
Why use the imperfective verb говори instead of a perfective verb?
When giving a negative command in Russian (telling someone not to do something), you almost always use the imperfective aspect. Even if you mean 'don't say it this one time,' the negative imperative Не говори is the natural way to forbid the action altogether.
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