Breakdown of Кампания будет успешной, даже если они украдут наши лозунги.
они
they
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
быть
to be
даже
even
успешный
successful
украсть
to steal
если
if
кампания
campaign
лозунг
slogan
Questions & Answers about Кампания будет успешной, даже если они украдут наши лозунги.
Why is there no бы used with даже если in this sentence?
In Russian, даже если (even if) can take either the indicative or the subjunctive mood. Here, we use the indicative future (украдут) because stealing the slogans is treated as a real, possible future event. If we wanted to express an unlikely or counterfactual scenario ("even if they were to steal"), we would add бы and use the past tense: даже если бы они украли.
Why is успешной in the instrumental case instead of the nominative успешная?
When using the future tense of the verb быть (to be), it is standard to put adjectives describing a state or characteristic into the instrumental case. Therefore, кампания будет успешной is the most natural way to say "the campaign will be successful."
Why use the perfective verb украдут rather than the imperfective?
We use the perfective украдут because the condition relies on the completed action and its result (the slogans actually being stolen before or during the campaign's success). Using an imperfective verb here would mean "even if they are in the process of stealing," which doesn't fit the logic of the sentence.
Why is кампания spelled with an "a" in the first syllable? I usually see it spelled компания.
Кампания (with an "a") means a "campaign" (such as a marketing, military, or political campaign). Компания (with an "o") means a "company" (a business entity or a group of friends). Because of Russian vowel reduction, both words sound exactly the same when spoken, but you must use the "a" spelling here based on the context.
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