Quote Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман View Post
It is impossible to use "собираться" with the verbs describing actions out of our control: one cannot "собираться любить" (to love), "собираться заболеть" (to fall ill), "собираться захотеть" (to want), "собираться поскользнуться" (to slip) etc.

And that's also impossible to apply this verb for inanimate subjects: you cannot say "Фильм собирается начаться" (The movie is going to start), you rather say "Фильм сейчас начнётся" (The movie will start right now).
Thanks for that explanation, Боб! In English, "going to" is possible in every example you gave, but in such cases it expresses a предсказание (prediction) about something that will happen in the future, rather than a conscious plan/intention:

"In about 5 billion years, the Sun is going to expand and completely swallow the Earth."
"Run for your lives -- the dam is gonna break!"
"Oh, Jesus, amannah puke -- I shouldn't have followed beer with vodka..."

I would assume that in Russian, a construction with собираться is impossible in all these cases -- in the first two sentences, because there's no conscious agent as the subject; in the third one because vomiting is usually not a matter of free will.

ЗЫ Although in the case of bulemic supermodels who throw up on purpose, I would guess it's possible to say "Я собираюсь вызвать рвоту" (lit., "I'm preparing to induce vomiting") or something like that? However, in the context of a person who's seasick or drunk, AFAIK you would normally use an impersonal verb in the 3rd-person-singular with the "logical subject" in the accusative: Господи, меня/её/нас сейчас вырвет -- принести ведро, скорее! ("Ohmygod, I'm/she's/we're about to throw up -- quick, bring a bucket!")