Breakdown of Мама переживает, когда я долго не звоню.
мама
mom
я
I
звонить
to call
долго
for a long time
когда
when
переживать
to worry, to be upset (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Мама переживает, когда я долго не звоню.
I already know words like беспокоиться and волноваться. How is переживать different?
Переживать is a very common, colloquial way to say "to worry." While беспокоиться is more neutral and волноваться can just mean feeling nervous, переживать has a deeper emotional feel—like taking something to heart or stressing out over it.
If I want to say "worries about me" in this sentence, how would I add that?
With the verb переживать, you use the preposition за followed by the accusative case. So you would say Мама переживает за меня. Be careful, because other worry verbs like беспокоиться usually take о plus the prepositional case.
Why do we use the single word долго instead of translating "for a long time" word-for-word?
Russian strongly prefers using single adverbs for time durations where English uses prepositional phrases. Долго directly means "for a long time." Using a literal translation of the English phrase, such as для долгого времени, would sound completely unnatural here.
Why is there a mandatory comma before когда?
Russian punctuation rules are much stricter than English ones. You must always use a comma to separate two clauses (parts of a sentence that each have their own subject and verb). Since Мама переживает and я не звоню are separate clauses, the comma before the conjunction когда is required.
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