Question 1

How does пускай work here, and is it different from пусть?

Accepted Answer

In this sentence, пускай introduces a concessive clause, meaning "even if" or "granted that." It is completely interchangeable with пусть, though пускай is slightly more colloquial. It sets up an obstacle or condition that is then countered by но (but) and всё же (still) in the second half of the sentence.

Question 2

What does the verb барахлит mean here?

Accepted Answer

Барахлить is a very common colloquial verb meaning "to act up," "to malfunction," or "to run poorly." It derives from the noun барахло (junk or old stuff). You will frequently hear it used for engines, electronics, and even body parts like a heart that aren't working quite right.

Question 3

Why is барахлит in the present tense instead of a conditional form like we use with если бы?

Accepted Answer

When пускай or пусть is used to mean "even if," it takes a regular indicative verb (present, past, or future) to show that the situation is real or highly likely. Here, the engine is actually acting up right now. If this were a purely hypothetical or unlikely situation, you would instead use даже если бы followed by the past tense.

Question 4

Could we drop всё же and just say но мы едем быстро?

Accepted Answer

Yes, the sentence would still be grammatically correct, but adding всё же (still or nonetheless) strengthens the contrast. When using пускай to concede a point, the second clause almost always uses но or всё же, and frequently combines them as но ... всё же to emphasize that the action continues despite the obstacle.

Пускай двигатель барахлит, но мы всё же едем быстро.

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