Breakdown of Передайте маме, что я буду дома в семь.
мама
mom
я
I
дома
at home
семь
seven
быть
to be
передать
to pass on, to hand over
Questions & Answers about Передайте маме, что я буду дома в семь.
Why use передайте instead of скажите (tell/say) here?
Передайте comes from the verb передать, which literally means "to pass" or "to hand over." In Russian, when you ask someone to pass a verbal message to a third person, it is much more natural and polite to use передайте rather than just скажите.
In English we say "Tell mum I will be...", skipping the word "that". Can I skip что in Russian?
No, you cannot drop it. Even though conversational English often leaves out "that" in reported speech, Russian strictly requires the conjunction что to connect the two parts of the sentence.
Why is it дома and not в доме?
Дома is a dedicated adverb meaning "at home" (describing your location or state). В доме literally means "inside the house" (referring to the physical building). Because you are talking about being at your residence, you must use дома.
Why does the sentence just say в семь without the word for "o'clock" (часов)?
Just like in English when we say "I'll be there at seven," you can safely drop the word for "o'clock" (часов) in everyday spoken Russian whenever the context makes it completely obvious that you are talking about time.
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