Breakdown of Расскажи в двух словах, что случилось.
что
what
рассказать
to tell (perfective)
случиться
to happen
в двух словах
in a nutshell, in two words
Questions & Answers about Расскажи в двух словах, что случилось.
Why is it в двух словах instead of в два слова?
The preposition в takes the prepositional case here to describe how the action is done. The prepositional form of the number два (two) is двух, and the noun слово (word) becomes the plural prepositional словах. The literal phrase 'in two words' is the standard Russian idiom for 'in a nutshell' or 'briefly'.
Why use the perfective imperative Расскажи instead of the imperfective Рассказывай?
You want the person to tell you the specific story of what just happened, which is a single, complete action. The imperfective Рассказывай would sound more like an ongoing invitation to 'keep talking' or 'start chatting,' whereas the perfective Расскажи focuses on getting the specific facts right now.
Why does случилось have a neuter ending?
Is the comma before что strictly necessary?
Yes. In Russian, subordinate clauses starting with question words or conjunctions like что must always be separated from the main clause by a comma. Unlike in English, where we usually write 'tell me what happened' without a comma, Russian punctuation rules firmly require it.