Breakdown of Не стоит оправдывать такой риск.
не
not
такой
such / so / what ... is
стоит
it is worth (doing)
оправдывать
to justify
Questions & Answers about Не стоит оправдывать такой риск.
Why is there no subject like 'it' or 'we' before не стоит?
Не стоит is an impersonal expression meaning 'it is not worth' or 'one shouldn't'. To specify who shouldn't do it, you use the Dative case (like Нам не стоит for 'We shouldn't'). Without a Dative pronoun, it acts as a general piece of advice.
Why do we use the imperfective verb оправдывать here instead of the perfective оправдать?
When giving negative advice or saying something isn't worth doing (using expressions like не стоит, не надо, or не следует), Russian almost always uses the imperfective infinitive. It stresses that the action shouldn't even be attempted or is generally a bad idea.
Стоит can mean both 'costs/is worth' and 'stands'. How do we know which one it is here?
By the grammar and the stress. The impersonal modal meaning 'is worth' is stressed on the first syllable (стОит) and is followed by an infinitive. The verb for 'stands' is stressed on the second syllable (стоИт) and is a physical action, so it wouldn't act as a modal verb before an infinitive like оправдывать.
What case is такой риск in?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of оправдывать (to justify). Since риск is a masculine, inanimate noun, both the noun and its modifier такой look exactly like they do in the Nominative case.