Breakdown of Поторопись, а то мы опоздаем.
мы
we
опоздать
to be late (perfective)
поторопиться
to hurry up
а то
otherwise
Questions & Answers about Поторопись, а то мы опоздаем.
Why use а то instead of just или for "or"?
While или is a neutral "or" used for choices (like tea or coffee), а то means "or else" or "otherwise." It is used specifically to introduce a negative consequence—in this case, being late if you don't hurry.
Can I use не то instead of а то in this sentence?
Yes, не то works exactly the same way here. Both а то and не то are used to warn about negative consequences, though а то is slightly more common in everyday spoken Russian.
Why does the imperative поторопись end in -сь rather than -ся?
The verb is reflexive (поторопиться). In Russian, the reflexive particle -ся changes to -сь whenever it directly follows a vowel. Since the imperative ending here is the vowel и, you must use -сь.
опоздаем looks like a present tense conjugation. How does it mean "we'll be late"?
The verb опоздать (to be late) is perfective. Because perfective verbs focus on the completion of a specific action, they do not have a true present tense. When you conjugate them using present tense endings, they automatically form the simple future tense.
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