Breakdown of После дождя дорога намного хуже, смотри, не поскользнись.
не
not
дождь
rain
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
дорога
road, way
после
after
намного
much, by far
хуже
worse
поскользнуться
to slip
Questions & Answers about После дождя дорога намного хуже, смотри, не поскользнись.
Why is не поскользнись perfective? I thought negative commands usually take the imperfective aspect.
You are right that negative commands usually use the imperfective aspect to tell someone not to do something. However, when you are warning someone not to do something accidentally, you use не plus the perfective imperative. Because slipping is an accidental, momentary action you want them to avoid, we use the perfective поскользнись.
Is смотри being used literally to mean 'look' here?
Not exactly. While it literally means 'look', in this context смотри acts as a warning phrase meaning 'watch out' or 'be careful'. It is very common to pair смотри with a negative perfective imperative to emphasize a warning.
Why do we use намного instead of много before хуже?
When modifying a comparative adjective like хуже (worse) to say 'much worse', Russian requires намного or гораздо. You cannot use just много before a comparative word.
Why does the reflexive verb end in -сь here instead of -ся?
In Russian reflexive verbs, the suffix becomes -сь whenever it directly follows a vowel. Because the imperative form is поскользни- (ending in the vowel и), it must be followed by -сь, making it поскользнись.
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