Breakdown of Смотри, не упади с обрыва, если пойдёшь туда один!
не
not
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
туда
there (destination)
пойти
to go (perfective, on foot) / to start (of rain, snow)
Questions & Answers about Смотри, не упади с обрыва, если пойдёшь туда один!
Why is the perfective verb упади used here in a negative imperative instead of an imperfective verb?
Usually, telling someone not to do something requires an imperfective verb. However, here we are warning the person about an accidental action they might do by mistake, not forbidding a deliberate one. For preventing accidental actions, Russian uses не plus the perfective imperative.
Why is Смотри used here? Doesn't it just mean 'look'?
While it literally means 'look', in this context Смотри acts as a warning particle meaning 'watch out' or 'make sure you don't'. It is very commonly paired with a negative perfective imperative like не упади to emphasize a warning.
Why does the sentence use the future tense пойдёшь when the English translation says 'if you go'?
In English, we use the present tense after 'if' even when talking about the future. Russian is more strict with time: if the conditional action is going to happen in the future, you must use the future tense after если.
Why do we use the preposition с for 'off the cliff' instead of из or от?
The preposition с combined with the genitive case is used for movement off or down from a surface, which pairs perfectly with falling off an edge like a cliff (обрыв). By contrast, из means out of an enclosed space, and от means moving away from the side of something.