Breakdown of Ему нужно проверить пульс и дыхание, чтобы не потерять сознание.
и
and
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
нужно
it is necessary
потерять
to lose (perfective)
проверить
to check (perfective)
чтобы
in order to
сознание
consciousness
дыхание
breath
пульс
pulse
Questions & Answers about Ему нужно проверить пульс и дыхание, чтобы не потерять сознание.
Why is потерять in the infinitive after чтобы instead of the past tense?
When the logical subject of the main clause and the чтобы clause is the same, Russian uses the infinitive. Since the same person is checking his pulse (Ему нужно) and avoiding fainting, we use чтобы не потерять. If a different person were involved (e.g., "so that she doesn't faint"), you would use the past tense: чтобы она не потеряла.
How could we express this negative outcome using a до- ... -ся verb from the current lesson?
While this sentence uses the standard perfective потерять (to lose), fainting from overexertion is a perfect scenario for a до- ... -ся verb. If he ignored his pulse while running, for example, you could say he "ran until a bad outcome happened" using добегаться: Он добегался до потери сознания (He ran until he lost consciousness).
The English translation says "his pulse and breathing," but there is no possessive pronoun in the Russian text. Why?
In Russian, possessive pronouns like свой or его are usually dropped when referring to body parts or bodily functions, provided the "owner" is obvious from the context. Adding свой пульс here would sound clunky and redundant to a native speaker.
Could we use Он должен instead of Ему нужно?
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