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Russian word of the day: Повеселиться
Oct 21, 2020 (see all)
to enjoy oneself, to amuse oneself, to have fun
The imperfective aspect
Examples
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Anita says:
Hello, in the first example, Иди́те is imperfective while повесели́тесь is perfective. I understand the use of perfective in повесели́тесь, but why not use the perfective пойди́те? Thanks.
Learn Russian Words says:
Hi Anita,
Good question. You can say both, пойдите and идите, but I feel a slight difference:
– Пойдите повеселитесь sounds like you want people to go and have fun just once for a short period of time, maybe to go to a fair that is open only one day in a year;
– Идите повеселитесь sounds like you want people to go and have fun and you don’t care how long they stay there and if the go back there.
Anita says:
Thanks for the reply. Is such mixed usage of imperfective and perfective verbs common in a chain of orders / instructions where imperative mode is used?
Learn Russian Words says:
It’s a hard question as I can’t really think of other examples at the moment.
But when it comes to the verbs идти/ходить, you can surely expect to see it again.