Thread: Aspect ( Military commands )

I heard that the imperfective imperative is more often used in military commands. Is this true?

Хватит ли одну об этом?

I think you've missunderstood.

What you probably heard is that the infinitive is more often used in the army in place of the imperative, and when you think about it this makes sense. An officer who is ordering more than one subordinate to do something can't use the singular imperative because he's speaking to more than one person, but the plural imperative also doubles as the polite form so he can't use that either, else he would sound like he was asking nicely rather than issuing an order, so the infinitive is used.

Originally Posted by scotcher

I think you've missunderstood.

What you probably heard is that the infinitive is more often used in the army in place of the imperative, and when you think about it this makes sense. An officer who is ordering more than one subordinate to do something can't use the singular imperative because he's speaking to more than one person, but the plural imperative also doubles as the polite form so he can't use that either, else he would sound like he was asking nicely rather than issuing an order, so the infinitive is used.

Thank you very much.
I remember that one may tell his dog "Служить!"

Although I understand the perfective may be polite,
is the following a polite invitation too?

Вставай, проклятьем заклейменный
Весь мир голодных и рабов...
( Song "ИНТЕРНАЦИОНАЛ" )


According to Russian Syntax by Borras and Christian (Oxford)
The imperfective verb is also often found in military commands.
Get up, you scum, get up! Вставай, кналья, вставай (Garshin).

This explanation might be inaccurate. What do you think?

Actually, it could also be the case that an imperfective imperative can be more forceful than a perfective imperative. I remember once being stopped in the street by the militsia with my brother-in-law for a document-check, and they told him to open the bag he was carrying with a polite "откройте сумку, пожалуйста", and when he didn't do what he was told the officer repeated the order, but used "открывайте!".

Maybe that's the same thing you're talking about. I never really thought about it before.

Originally Posted by scotcher

Actually, it could also be the case that an imperfective imperative can be more forceful than a perfective imperative. I remember once being stopped in the street by the militsia with my brother-in-law for a document-check, and they told him to open the bag he was carrying with a polite "откройте сумку, пожалуйста", and when he didn't do what he was told the officer repeated the order, but used "открывайте!".

Maybe that's the same thing you're talking about. I never really thought about it before.

Scotcher

Thank you very much for your comment. Your experience is very very helpful!

Yuki