neofight78
Why use the imperative here? The imperative is used in the following sentence: А я потом, ставки на вас делай. My understanding is that this means "And then I will place bets on you", but I would have thought that it would have been expressed as: А я потом, ставки на вас делаю. This doesn't seem to be a command or request, so why is the imperative used and how does it change the meaning?
Jun 26, 2015 9:46 PM
Answers · 17
2
Apart from the common direct imperative forming a command or request, there is also the indirect imperative (which, unlike the direct one, can be used with first- and third-person nouns/pronouns using the same second-person form of the verb) to express: 1) necessity or obligation, usually as a consequense of some undesirable external circumstances caused an undesirable action Ты покупал, а я плати! -- You bought it and I (must) pay! Ты сломал, а я чини!? -- You broke it and I (must) fix it!? 2) hypothetical/conditional situations. In this case, indirect imperative is interchangable with the conditional mood. a) with relative pronouns: Что я ни говори, он не слушает = Что бы я ни говорил, он не слушает. Как ни старайся, ничего не получается = Как бы я ни старался, ничего не получается Сколько ему ни дай, ему все мало = Сколько бы я ему ни давал, ему все мало. :D b) without pronouns: Сделай он это раньше, все могло бы быть по-другому = Если бы он сделал это раньше… Будь он не так глуп, зарабатывал бы больше = Если бы он ни был так глуп…
June 27, 2015
1
There are some others: 3) with the conjunction ''хоть'': Хоть убейте, не могу этого сделать -- lit.: You can kill me, but I can't do that Так все плохо, что хоть ложись и помирай – (leave translation to you :D) 4) with the ''возьми и + imperative'' to express something what happened unexpectedly: Никто не ожидал, а он возьми и приди. = Никто не ожидал, а он пришел Никто не верил, а он возьми и выучи русский. = Никто не верил, но он все-таки выучил русский. I'm really not sure that it's clear, buy anyway.
June 27, 2015
well, that's a tricky one, but I would say that no imperative is implied here. It would be better understood if the context was shown, but I understand it like: I don't really want to place bets on you or I want to show this unwillingness. That's why imperative form is used, to show that you're uneager to do it, but still will. Something like that)
June 26, 2015
You're welcome. =) Ask more ;-)
June 27, 2015
Thank you NucleanSpoon :-)
June 27, 2015
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