Breakdown of Лишь бы он потерпел до завтра!
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
завтра
tomorrow
до
before, until
лишь бы
if only / as long as
Questions & Answers about Лишь бы он потерпел до завтра!
Why is the past tense verb потерпел used here when we are talking about tomorrow?
The particle лишь бы expresses a strong wish ("if only" or "as long as"). Because it contains the conditional particle бы, it requires the verb to be in the past tense or the infinitive. Since there is an explicit subject doing the action (он), we must use the past tense потерпел, even though the desired action is in the future.
Could лишь бы be translated as "as long as" in this sentence?
Yes! If this clause were part of a larger sentence, it would mean "as long as". For example: "Everything will be fine, лишь бы он потерпел до завтра" (Everything will be fine, as long as he holds out until tomorrow). On its own as an exclamation, it translates to "If only...!"
Why use the perfective потерпел instead of the imperfective терпел?
The speaker is focused on him successfully holding out until a specific limit (до завтра). The perfective потерпел emphasizes reaching that finish line. If you used the imperfective терпел, it would focus on the miserable process of him enduring or suffering, without the emphasis on completing the wait.
The preposition до requires the genitive case. Why hasn't the ending of завтра changed?
Because завтра (tomorrow) is an adverb, not a noun. Adverbs are indeclinable in Russian, meaning their forms are frozen and never change for case, no matter which preposition comes before them.