Quote Originally Posted by grafrich View Post
Thanks iCake, I was hoping to convey the idea that the bird was about to hit the window, but swerved at the last moment, and flew off unharmed. Your version has it hitting the window sideways? I think.
'не свернула себе шею.' I thought that actions that didn't happen are expressed using imperfective verbs, is that different here because ''свернуть себе шею" is a stock expression?
Yeah, sideways, but that's effectively the same thing as "swerved at the last moment", because it is difficult to imagine that the bird was flying sideways the whole way. And actions that didn't happen being an imperfective choice? Sorry, I'll be blunt here, it's plain wrong to think of it like that. Happen or didn't happen has barely anything to do with verb aspects.