Breakdown of В случае если начнётся эвакуация, квест сразу закончится.
сразу
immediately
начаться
to start (perfective)
закончиться
to end (perfective)
квест
quest
Questions & Answers about В случае если начнётся эвакуация, квест сразу закончится.
Why do we use в случае если instead of just в случае?
В случае acts like a preposition and must be followed directly by a noun in the Genitive case, as in в случае эвакуации (in case of evacuation). Because this sentence introduces a full clause with its own subject and verb (начнётся эвакуация), we must add the conjunction если to connect the clauses.
English uses the present tense "starts" here. Why does Russian use the future tense начнётся?
In English conditional clauses, we typically use the present tense to talk about the future ("if an evacuation starts"). Russian is more strictly logical with its timeline: since the potential evacuation is a future event, conditional clauses after если or в случае если require the future tense.
Both начнётся and закончится have the reflexive -ся ending. Why?
Here, the reflexive ending shows that the actions are happening to the subjects themselves (the evacuation begins, the quest ends) without an external agent acting on a direct object. If you used the non-reflexive forms начнёт and закончит, you would be saying that someone (like an organizer) will start the evacuation or end the quest.
Why isn't there a comma between в случае and если?