Breakdown of Если мир кажется несправедливым, то смирись. Такова жизнь.
жизнь
life
мир
world
если
if
то
then (in that case)
казаться
to seem
смириться
to come to terms
таков
such is... (таков, такова, таково, таковы)
несправедливый
unfair
Questions & Answers about Если мир кажется несправедливым, то смирись. Такова жизнь.
Why use Такова instead of Такая for "Such is"?
Такова is the short, predicative form of the demonstrative pronoun таков. Like short-form adjectives, it is used only as the predicate (the core state or action) of a sentence, often translating to "Such is..." or "That's how... is." While you could say Жизнь такая in colloquial speech, Такова жизнь is a fixed, slightly more elevated expression for "Such is life."
Why does такова end in -а?
Because it acts like a short-form adjective, it must agree in gender and number with the noun it describes. Жизнь (life) is a feminine noun, so we use the feminine form такова. The other forms you will see in this lesson are таков (masculine), таково (neuter), and таковы (plural).
Why is несправедливым (unfair) in the instrumental case here?
Verbs that express a state of being, becoming, or seeming—like казаться (to seem), являться (to be), and стать (to become)—usually require the adjective or noun that follows them to be in the instrumental case. Since the world "seems" unfair, несправедливый changes to its instrumental form, несправедливым.
What is the role of то right before смирись?
It is the "then" in an "if... then" conditional sentence (если ..., то ...). While то can sometimes be dropped in casual speech, keeping it is standard in Russian to strongly link the condition to the outcome.
What is the exact meaning of смирись?
It is the singular imperative of the perfective verb смириться, which means to resign oneself to something, to submit, or to accept an unchangeable situation. It shares a root with мир (peace)—so you can think of it literally as a command to "make your peace with it."
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