Breakdown of Когда сплетничаешь, часто теряешь доверие.
часто
often
когда
when
терять
to lose
доверие
trust
сплетничать
to gossip
Questions & Answers about Когда сплетничаешь, часто теряешь доверие.
Why is the pronoun ты missing before сплетничаешь and теряешь?
This is a generalized-personal clause. By leaving out ты and just using the second-person singular verb forms (сплетничаешь, теряешь), the sentence makes a general statement applicable to anyone. It translates best to the general "you" or "one" in English: "When one gossips..." Including ты would make it specifically about the person you are talking to.
Why are both verbs in the imperfective aspect here?
Imperfective verbs are standard for general truths, rules, or repeating actions. Because this sentence describes a habitual cause and effect ("whenever a person gossips..."), the imperfective forms сплетничаешь and теряешь are required to express this timeless rule.
I know the noun сплетня means "gossip". How is the verb сплетничать formed?
It uses the suffix -ича-, which is often added to nouns or adjectives to mean "to act like [the root]" or "to engage in [the root's activity]". So, from сплетня (a piece of gossip), you get сплетничать (to engage in gossiping). It belongs to the standard first conjugation, hence the ending -ешь.
Does теряешь доверие mean you stop trusting others, or that others stop trusting you?
Out of context, it could technically mean both, but Russian speakers overwhelmingly use терять доверие to mean losing other people's trust in you. If you wanted to specify losing your own trust in humanity or people, you would usually expand it to теряешь доверие к людям (you lose trust towards people).
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