Breakdown of Это страшный фильм, не смотри его ночью.
это
this / it is
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
фильм
movie
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
ночью
at night
страшный
scary, terrible
Questions & Answers about Это страшный фильм, не смотри его ночью.
Why is не смотри in the imperfective aspect here?
In Russian, direct negative commands ('don't do X') almost always use the imperfective aspect, even if you are talking about a single, specific event like watching this movie. So, to say 'don't watch', you must use the imperfective imperative не смотри.
The current lesson is about warnings like смотри, не... (make sure you don't). Why isn't that used here?
The warning structure смотри, не + perfective future is used when you want someone to avoid doing something accidentally (like 'careful, don't fall!'). Watching a movie is a deliberate action, so a direct negative command (using just не + imperfective imperative) is the correct and natural choice here.
Why is the pronoun его used instead of он?
Его is the accusative case of the pronoun он (he/it). Because фильм is a masculine noun, it acts as 'he/it'. Since the movie is the direct object being watched, it must take the accusative case, which changes он to его.
Why does the word for 'at night' (ночью) end in -ю?
Ночью is the instrumental case of the feminine noun ночь (night). Russian frequently uses the instrumental case of words for parts of the day to mean 'in the' or 'at' that time, just like утром (in the morning) or днём (in the afternoon).
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