Usage of the verbs expressing desire or request according to a context. Contextual verbs

Hello, dear student!

Today I would like to draw your attention to the verbs in Russian which are one of the most mysterious and complicated parts of speech. Foreigners often become confused, when they hear the phrase such as:

- Передайте мне, пожалуйста, эту книгу! [Piridayte mne, pazhalusta, ehtu knigu!] - Could you pass me that book, please!

In this case the verb «передайте» [piridayte] is used with the ending «те». And sometimes, foreigners can hear in speech the simple:

- Передай мне, пожалуйста, эту книгу! [Piriday mne, pazhalusta, ehtu knigu!] - Could you pass me that book, please!

So what is the difference between the usage of the verbs with the ending «те» [te] and just «дай» [day], «передай» [piriday], «послушай» [paslushay]?

This is a great dilemma for foreigners who learn the Russian language. But all of it is actually simple because everything depends on a situation and context, where you can use or hear such phrases. For example, it was easy for me to memorize the following rule: if you are trying to make polite conversation with the address-form «Вы» [Vy] (I have written about this phenomenon in previous articles), you should use the imperative mood of a verb with the ending «те». For example,

- Отойдите, пожалуйста, в сторону! [Ataid'it'e, pazhalusta, f storanu] - Could you please gо away from this place?

А, если вы обращаетесь к своему сверстнику или знакомому, близкому человеку, то в данном случае, конечно, будет целесообразнее обратиться так:

- Отойди, пожалуйста, в сторону! [Ataid'i, pazhalusta, f storanu] - Could you, please, step aside?

But be careful, since there are no such forms of pronouns as «Вы» [Vy] and «Ты» [Ty] in the singular, many foreigners become confused.

One more important moment, which you should memorize – if you use the pronoun «Вы» referring to a group of 2 or more people, you should use the verbs with the ending «те», for example:

- Ребята, пропустите меня вперед! [Rib'ata, prapustite minya fpir'od!] - Guys, could you, please, let me pass forward?

The word «ребята» (guys) means that there are several people, i.e. it is the plural number.

There are a lot of verbs expressing requests, desires, addresses, for example:

Дай, возьми, принеси, иди, открой [dai, vaz'mi, prinisi, idi, atkroj] - Give, take, bring, go, open.

Practise using these words in sentences in the singular and plural.