# The Brothers Karamazov, Children

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book X — The Boys

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b10-c2. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b10-c2.json.


Итак, в то морозное и сиверкое ноябрьское утро мальчик Коля Красоткин сидел дома.  
And so, on that frosty, biting November morning, the boy Kolya Krassotkin was sitting at home.
> «сиверкое» — raw and cold: A dialectal, expressive adjective (from «сивер», a cold north wind) meaning raw, bleak, bitterly cold. It pairs with «морозное» (frosty) to set a doubly harsh November morning; the word itself is regional and old-fashioned, lending the narration a homely Russian texture.
> Accusative of time-when: A point in time uses the accusative after «в» with no preposition for clock-words («в то утро» — on that morning), the demonstrative «то» and the adjectives all agreeing with neuter «утро». Compare «в город» (motion) with this temporal use of «в».
> Imperfective past for a held state: «сидел» (imperfective) frames Kolya as sitting at home — an ongoing background state, not a finished event. This is the standard imperfective scene-setting against which the chapter's later perfectives will move.

Было воскресенье, и классов не было.  
It was a Sunday, and there were no lessons.
> Genitive of negated existence: With the impersonal «не было» (there were none), the absent subject «классы» shifts to genitive plural «классов». This genitive-of-negation is obligatory in existential negations — «не было» always governs the genitive.
> «классы» as school lessons: Here «классы» does not mean classrooms but the school day's lessons/classes; «классов не было» = there were no lessons, because it was Sunday.

Но пробило уже одиннадцать часов, а ему непременно надо было идти со двора «по одному весьма важному делу», а между тем он во всем доме оставался один и решительно как хранитель его, потому что так случилось, что все его старшие обитатели, по некоторому экстренному и оригинальному обстоятельству, отлучились со двора.  
But eleven o'clock had already struck, and he absolutely had to go out "on a certain very important matter," yet meanwhile he remained alone in the whole house, and positively as its guardian, for it had so happened that all its grown-up inhabitants had, owing to a certain urgent and unusual circumstance, gone out.
> «пробило» — the clock struck: An impersonal use of «пробить» (to strike, of a clock): «пробило одиннадцать» = it struck eleven. The verb is neuter-impersonal with no subject, the standard way Russian reports a chiming hour.
> Dative subject of necessity: Necessity is impersonal: the person obliged stands in the dative («ему»), with «надо было» + infinitive and no nominative subject. This dative-experiencer frame is everywhere in Dostoevsky's inner life.
> Contrastive «а» and «между тем»: «а» here is the soft contrastive 'and/yet', hinging from his errand to his being stuck alone; «между тем» (meanwhile) reinforces the pivot. This untranslatable «а» is a constant connective in the narration.
> «потому что» + «что» subordination: Two subordinators stack: «потому что» (because) opens a reason clause, then «так случилось, что…» (it so happened that…) opens a fact clause. Both are set off by commas, the backbone of Dostoevsky's long periodic sentences.

В доме вдовы Красоткиной, чрез сени от квартиры, которую занимала она сама, отдавалась еще одна и единственная в доме квартирка из двух маленьких комнат внаймы, и занимала ее докторша с двумя малолетними детьми.  
In the house of the widow Krassotkina, across the entry from the apartment she herself occupied, there was let out one more and only other little flat in the house, of two small rooms, and it was occupied by a doctor's wife with two young children.
> «сени» — the cold entry passage: «Сени» (plural only) is the unheated entrance passage of a traditional Russian house, between the porch and the living rooms — here separating the widow's quarters from the rented flat. «чрез» is the archaic, bookish form of «через» (across, through).
> Relative «который» in the accusative: «которую» agrees with its antecedent «квартиру» in feminine gender and number, but takes the accusative because it is the direct object inside its own clause («занимала квартиру»). The case is set by the relative clause, not the main one.
> «квартирка» — a little flat: Diminutive of «квартира» via -к-; not just 'small' but tinged with the modest, even pitiable scale of the two-room let. The same affectionate-belittling suffix colours «комнатки» nearby.
> «докторша» — the doctor's wife: The suffix -ша here means 'wife of' (the doctor's wife), a common 19th-c. usage, not a female doctor. The whole chapter turns on her abandonment by her travelling husband.

Эта докторша была одних лет с Анной Федоровной и большая ее приятельница, сам же доктор вот уже с год заехал куда-то сперва в Оренбург, а потом в Ташкент, и уже с полгода как от него не было ни слуху ни духу, так что если бы не дружба с госпожою Красоткиной, несколько смягчавшая горе оставленной докторши, то она решительно бы истекла от этого горя слезами.  
This doctor's wife was the same age as Anna Fyodorovna and a great friend of hers, while the doctor himself had, a year ago now, taken himself off somewhere — first to Orenburg, then to Tashkent — and for half a year already not a word, not a whisper, had come from him, so that had it not been for her friendship with Madame Krassotkina, which somewhat softened the grief of the abandoned doctor's wife, she would positively have dissolved away in tears from that grief.
> Genitive «одних лет» for age-equality: «одних лет» (lit. 'of one [same] years') is a fixed genitive-plural construction meaning 'of the same age'; the comparison partner follows with «с» + instrumental («с Анной Федоровной»).
> «ни слуху ни духу» — not a word, not a whisper: A fixed idiom (lit. 'neither rumour nor spirit') meaning no news whatsoever has been heard of someone. Note the old partitive-genitive endings «-у» in «слуху/духу», typical of such set phrases.
> Counterfactual «если бы… то… бы»: An unreal condition: «если бы не дружба» (had it not been for the friendship) sets up a hypothesis, answered by «она решительно бы истекла слезами» — past-form verb + the irrealis particle «бы». «бы» appears in both halves, marking the whole as contrary to fact.
> Participles stacked: active and passive: «смягчавшая» is a past active participle ('which softened', from imperfective «смягчать»), agreeing with «дружба»; «оставленной» is a past passive participle ('abandoned', from «оставить»), agreeing with «докторши». Such participial layering compresses two который-clauses into modifiers — a hallmark of literary style.

И вот надобно же было так случиться к довершению всех угнетений судьбы, что в эту же самую ночь, с субботы на воскресенье, Катерина, единственная служанка докторши, вдруг и совсем неожиданно для своей барыни объявила ей, что намерена родить к утру ребеночка.  
And it had to happen, to crown all the oppressions of fate, that on that very night, from Saturday to Sunday, Katerina, the doctor's wife's only servant, suddenly and quite unexpectedly for her mistress announced to her that she intended to give birth to a baby by morning.
> «барыня» — the mistress: «Барыня» is the lady of the house / mistress (feminine of «барин»), the term a servant uses for her employer. Set against «служанка» (maidservant), it frames the household's social order.
> «ребёночек» — a wee baby: Affectionate diminutive of «ребёнок» (child) via -очек, here gently comic in Katerina's blunt announcement that she intends «родить ребёночка». Dostoevsky uses such endearing suffixes throughout the children's chapter.
> Short adjective «намерена» as predicate: «намерена» is the short (predicative) feminine form of «намеренный» (intending), used with an infinitive: 'she is intending to give birth'. Short forms can only predicate, never modify a noun directly, and carry a crisp, bookish ring.

Как случилось, что никто этого не заметил заранее, было для всех почти чудом.  
How it had come about that no one had noticed it beforehand was almost a miracle to everyone.
> Negative concord: «никто… не»: Russian requires the verb to keep «не» even with a negative pronoun: «никто… не заметил» (no one noticed) doubles the negation as a single meaning. The negated object «этого» also stands in the genitive.
> Whole clause as subject: The subject of «было… чудом» is an entire embedded clause, «Как случилось, что никто этого не заметил заранее». A clause can fill the nominative-subject slot, with the neuter «было» agreeing by default.
> Instrumental predicate after «было»: After past-tense «было», the predicate noun «чудо» takes the instrumental «чудом» rather than nominative — the regular pattern for «быть» in the past. The instrumental frames it as a state ascribed, not an inherent identity.

Пораженная докторша рассудила, пока есть еще время, свезти Катерину в одно приспособленное к подобным случаям в нашем городе заведение у повивальной бабушки.  
The astonished doctor's wife decided, while there was still time, to take Katerina to an establishment in our town fitted out for such cases, kept by a midwife.
> «повивальная бабушка» — the midwife: The traditional term for a midwife (lit. 'swaddling granny', from «повивать», to swaddle), more homely and old-fashioned than the formal «акушерка». It recurs in the children's debate about where babies come from.
> «заведение» — an establishment: A neutral, slightly bureaucratic word for an establishment or institution; here a private lying-in house «приспособленное к подобным случаям» (fitted out for such cases). The -ение noun is bookish in flavour.
> Past passive participle + dative: «приспособленное» is a past passive participle ('adapted/fitted out', from «приспособить»), agreeing with neuter «заведение»; it governs «к подобным случаям» in the dative, since «к» always takes the dative.

Так как служанкою этой она очень дорожила, то немедленно и исполнила свой проект, отвезла ее и, сверх того, осталась там при ней.  
Since she greatly valued this servant, she carried out her plan without delay, conveyed her there, and, over and above that, stayed there with her.
> Correlative «так как… то»: «так как» (since, because) opens the cause; the main clause is picked up by the resumptive «то» ('then', here untranslated). This «так как… то» frame is a tidy 19th-c. way of binding a reason to its consequence.
> «дорожить» governs the instrumental: The verb «дорожить» (to value, prize) takes its object in the instrumental: «дорожила служанкою» (valued the servant). The archaic ending «-ою» for «-ой» adds a literary, period flavour.
> Chain of perfectives moving the plot: Three perfective past verbs in a row — «исполнила, отвезла, осталась» — narrate completed, sequential events, each a single finished step. This is the perfective's job: advancing the story against the imperfective background.

Затем уже утром понадобилось почему-то всё дружеское участие и помощь самой госпожи Красоткиной, которая при этом случае могла кого-то о чем-то попросить и оказать какое-то покровительство.  
Then, by morning, the whole friendly concern and help of Madame Krassotkina herself was somehow required, for in this matter she could ask someone for something and extend a certain measure of patronage.
> Reflexive «-ся» as a change of state: «понадобилось» (from «понадобиться», -ся) means 'became needed / was required'; the thing required, «всё дружеское участие и помощь», is the grammatical subject. The -ся here marks a middle, intransitive 'come to be needed', not a true reflexive.
> Vague «-то»: a known-but-unnamed someone: The clitic «-то» on «кого-то» and «чём-то» marks a specific but unspecified referent — she could ask some particular someone for some particular thing, left deliberately vague. Contrast «-нибудь», which would mean 'anyone at all'.

Таким образом, обе дамы были в отлучке, служанка же самой госпожи Красоткиной, баба Агафья, ушла на базар, и Коля очутился таким образом на время хранителем и караульщиком «пузырей», то есть мальчика и девочки докторши, оставшихся одинешенькими.  
Thus both ladies were away, and Madame Krassotkina's own servant, the peasant woman Agafya, had gone to the market, and so Kolya found himself for a time the keeper and sentinel of the "bubbles" — that is, of the doctor's wife's little boy and girl, who had been left all alone.
> «Пузыри» — Kolya's slang for the kids: Literally 'bubbles' (singular «пузырь»), here Kolya's affectionate-but-superior teenage slang for the two small children; we render it 'the bubbles.' The word's everyday meaning is a bubble or blister, so the nickname casts the toddlers as tiny round things he must mind.
> «баба» — peasant woman: «Баба» denotes a peasant or common woman (here the servant Agafya), plain and unceremonious, as against the genteel «барыня» or «дама». Its register is low and earthy — apt for the household's hired help off at the market.
> «одинёшеньки» — all, all alone: An intensive-affectionate elaboration of «одни» (alone) with the expressive suffix -ёшеньк-, meaning 'utterly, pitifully alone'. The suffix wrings extra tenderness from the word — the little ones are left quite by themselves.
> Past active participle in the genitive: «оставшихся» (from reflexive «остаться») is a past active participle, 'who had been left', agreeing with «пузырей» in genitive plural, while the predicate «одинешенькими» appears in the instrumental — the standard instrumental after «остаться».

Караулить дом Коля не боялся, с ним к тому же был Перезвон, которому повелено было лежать ничком в передней под лавкой «без движений» и который именно поэтому каждый раз, как входил в переднюю расхаживавший по комнатам Коля, вздрагивал головой и давал два твердые и заискивающие удара хвостом по полу, но увы, призывного свиста не раздавалось.  
Kolya was not afraid to guard the house; besides, Perezvon was with him, who had been commanded to lie face down in the entry under the bench "without moving," and who for that very reason, each time Kolya, pacing through the rooms, came into the entry, gave a start of the head and beat two firm, ingratiating taps of his tail on the floor — but alas, no summoning whistle was sounded.
> Impersonal short passive participle: «повелено было» is the short-form past passive participle of «повелеть» (to command) used impersonally: 'it had been commanded'. The neuter short form + «было» states a result with no named agent — bookish and a touch solemn for a dog's orders.
> Past active participle modifying the subject: «расхаживавший по комнатам» ('pacing through the rooms') is a past active participle agreeing with «Коля», packing a whole который-clause into one modifier before the noun. Such fronted participles are a signature of dense literary narration.
> «заискивающий» — ingratiating: From «заискивать» (to curry favour, fawn), this present active participle paints the dog's tail-taps as obsequious, currying favour. The word carries a faint pejorative, perfectly fitting the cowed, eager-to-please Perezvon.

Коля грозно взглядывал на несчастного пса, и тот опять замирал в послушном оцепенении.  
Kolya would glance menacingly at the wretched dog, and it would once more freeze in obedient torpor.
> Imperfectives for habitual repetition: Both verbs are imperfective past («взглядывал», «замирал») expressing a repeated, habitual pattern: Kolya 'would glance' and the dog 'would freeze' again and again. English marks this with 'would'; Russian carries it entirely in the aspect.
> «тот» tracking the subject: The demonstrative «тот» ('the latter', i.e. the dog) picks out the second of two referents and keeps the discourse clear when subjects switch. This subject-tracking use of «тот»/«этот» lets Russian reorder freely without confusion.

Но если что смущало Колю, то единственно «пузыри».  
But if anything troubled Kolya, it was solely the "bubbles."
> Correlative «если… то» with topic focus: A cleft-like construction: «если что смущало Колю, то…» ('if anything troubled Kolya, then it was…') front-loads the condition and resolves it with «то». Here «что» is the indefinite 'anything', and the new information «пузыри» lands in the stressed final slot.

На нечаянное приключение с Катериной он, разумеется, смотрел с самым глубоким презрением, но осиротевших пузырей он очень любил и уже снес им какую-то детскую книжку.  
On the unforeseen adventure with Katerina he looked, of course, with the deepest contempt, but the orphaned bubbles he loved very much, and he had already brought them some children's book.
> Superlative with «самый»: «с самым глубоким презрением» builds the superlative periphrastically: «самый» ('most') declines together with the adjective «глубоким», both in the instrumental after «с». This is the everyday superlative, against the bookish suffix «-ейший».
> «осиротевший» — orphaned: Past active participle from «осиротеть» (to be orphaned), here playfully applied to the children left motherless for the day. The word is weightier than the situation, part of the narrator's gently ironic register around Kolya's protectiveness.
> Perfective «снёс» + indefinite «какую-то»: «снёс» (perfective of «сносить/снести», to carry/bring) reports a single completed act — he had already brought them a book. «какую-то детскую книжку» uses «-то» for 'some [particular] children's book', specific but unnamed.

Настя, старшая девочка, восьми уже лет, умела читать, а младший пузырь, семилетний мальчик Костя, очень любил слушать, когда Настя ему читает.  
Nastya, the elder girl, already eight years old, could read, while the younger bubble, the seven-year-old boy Kostya, loved very much to listen when Nastya read to him.
> Numerals governing case: «восьми лет» puts age in the genitive plural after the numeral («восьми» is the genitive of «восемь»), the regular case-after-numerals pattern; «семилетний» fuses 'seven' + 'year' into a single agreeing adjective ('seven-year-old').
> Imperfective present inside past narration: Within the past-tense frame, «когда Настя ему читает» uses the imperfective present «читает» for the habitual, repeated action of Nastya's reading aloud — a 'general truth' present nested in the story's past.

Разумеется, Красоткин мог бы их занять интереснее, то есть поставить обоих рядом и начать с ними играть в солдаты или прятаться по всему дому.  
To be sure, Krassotkin could have entertained them more amusingly — that is, set the two of them side by side and begun playing soldiers with them, or hide-and-seek all over the house.
> Conditional «мог бы» + comparative: «мог бы» is the conditional ('could have'), past-form verb + «бы», naming an unrealised possibility. «интереснее» is the simple comparative ('more interestingly') in the invariable -ее form.

Это он не раз уже делал прежде и не брезгал делать, так что даже в классе у них разнеслось было раз, что Красоткин у себя дома играет с маленькими жильцами своими в лошадки, прыгает за пристяжную и гнет голову, но Красоткин гордо отпарировал это обвинение, выставив на вид, что со сверстниками, с тринадцатилетними, действительно было бы позорно играть «в наш век» в лошадки, но что он делает это для «пузырей», потому что их любит, а в чувствах его никто не смеет у него спрашивать отчета.  
This he had more than once done before and did not scorn to do, so that even at school it had once gotten about that Krassotkin played horses at home with his little lodgers, prancing as the trace-horse and bending his head; but Krassotkin proudly parried this accusation, pointing out that with one's coevals, with thirteen-year-olds, it would indeed be shameful to play horses "in this day and age," but that he did it for the "bubbles" because he loved them, and that no one dared to demand of him an account of his feelings.
> «брезгать» — to disdain, find beneath one: «Брезгать/брезговать» means to be squeamish about, to scorn doing something as beneath one. «не брезгал делать» = he did not scorn to do it — a key touch: Kolya, for all his teenage pride, is not too proud to play with the children.
> «пристяжная» — the trace-horse: A «пристяжная» is the outside trace-horse harnessed alongside the central shaft-horse in a Russian three-horse team (тройка); it galloped with its head curved outward. Kolya 'prances as the trace-horse and bends his head', mimicking exactly that posture in the game of horses.
> Impersonal conditional with short adjective: «было бы позорно» is an impersonal conditional ('it would be shameful'): the neuter short adjective «позорно» + «было» + «бы», with the logical subject the infinitive «играть». No nominative subject appears — a typically Russian impersonal evaluation.
> Negative concord + genitive object: «никто не смеет» keeps both «никто» and «не» (negative concord), and the negated object «отчёта» ('an account') stands in the genitive after the negated «спрашивать». Two negatives, one meaning, plus the genitive of negation.

Зато и обожали же его оба «пузыря».  
And in return both "bubbles" adored him.
> Inverted word order with «же» for emphasis: The verb «обожали» is fronted before its subject «оба пузыря», and the particle «же» drives the emphasis home — 'And how the two bubbles adored him in return!'. «Зато» ('but on the other hand, in return') hinges the contrast. The marked order foregrounds the intensity of their devotion.

Но на сей раз было не до игрушек.  
But this time there was no thought of toys.
> «не до» — no time/mood for: The idiom «(кому) не до (чего)» + genitive means one has no time, heart, or mood for something: «было не до игрушек» = there was no thought of (no time for) toys. The genitive «игрушек» is governed by «до».
> Archaic «сей» — 'this': «сей» is the bookish, archaic demonstrative 'this', surviving in fixed phrases like «на сей раз» (this time) and «до сих пор». A reader of Dostoevsky meets «сей/сия/сие» as period-elevated, where modern speech uses «этот».

Ему предстояло одно очень важное собственное дело, и на вид какое-то почти даже таинственное, между тем время уходило, а Агафья, на которую можно бы было оставить детей, всё еще не хотела возвратиться с базара.  
Before him lay a certain very important matter of his own, and one with an air about it of being almost even mysterious; meanwhile the time was slipping away, and Agafya, with whom the children could have been left, still would not come back from the market.
> Dative subject of «предстоять»: «предстояло» (lay ahead, was in store) takes the person in the dative («ему») and the thing in store as nominative subject («дело»): 'before him lay a matter'. Another dative-experiencer frame, casting Kolya as one to whom things befall.
> Relative «которую» with preposition: «на которую» fronts the preposition with the relative pronoun, in the accusative governed by «на»; «можно бы было оставить» is an impersonal conditional ('with whom one could have left the children'). The whole clause modifies «Агафья».
> Imperfective «не хотела» for ongoing refusal: «всё ещё не хотела возвратиться» — the imperfective «хотела» with «всё ещё» renders a stubborn, continuing reluctance ('still would not come back'). English 'would not' captures exactly this imperfective sense of persistent refusal.

Он несколько раз уже переходил чрез сени, отворял дверь к докторше и озабоченно оглядывал «пузырей», которые, по его приказанию, сидели за книжкой, и каждый раз, как он отворял дверь, молча улыбались ему во весь рот, ожидая, что вот он войдет и сделает что-нибудь прекрасное и забавное.  
Several times already he had crossed the entry, opened the door to the doctor's wife's rooms, and anxiously surveyed the "bubbles," who, on his orders, were sitting over their book, and each time he opened the door they smiled at him silently, grinning from ear to ear, expecting that now he would come in and do something splendid and entertaining.
> Imperfectives for repeated rounds: A run of imperfective pasts («переходил, отворял, оглядывал») with «несколько раз» and «каждый раз» renders Kolya's repeated checking — he crossed, opened, and surveyed again and again. The aspect, not any adverb alone, carries the iteration.
> Gerunds «молча» and «ожидая»: Both «молча» (silently, from «молчать») and «ожидая» (expecting, from «ожидать») are imperfective gerunds — деепричастия — naming actions simultaneous with the main verb «улыбались», and sharing its subject (the children). They compress 'as they kept silent and expected' into two adverbial forms.
> «во весь рот» — grinning from ear to ear: Idiom 'to smile во весь рот' (lit. 'with the whole mouth') = to grin broadly, from ear to ear. The phrase, with «вот он войдёт» ('now he'll come in'), captures the children's wide, expectant delight.

Но Коля был в душевной тревоге и не входил.  
But Kolya was in inward distress and did not go in.
> Imperfective «не входил» — a sustained non-action: «не входил» (imperfective) describes a held-back state — he kept not going in — matching his prolonged «душевная тревога». A perfective «не вошёл» would report a single non-entry; the imperfective stresses the drawn-out hesitation.

Наконец пробило одиннадцать, и он твердо и окончательно решил, что если чрез десять минут «проклятая» Агафья не воротится, то он уйдет со двора, ее не дождавшись, разумеется взяв с «пузырей» слово, что они без него не струсят, не нашалят и не будут от страха плакать.  
At last eleven struck, and he resolved firmly and finally that if in ten minutes the "accursed" Agafya did not come back, he would go out without waiting for her — having, of course, first taken the "bubbles'" word that they would not lose their nerve without him, would not get up to mischief, and would not cry for fear.
> Real future conditional with perfectives: A real (open) condition about the future: «если… не воротится» (perfective future of «воротиться», to come back) in the if-clause, «он уйдёт» (perfective future of «уйти») in the result. Both are perfective-future forms — conjugated like a present but meaning a single completed future act.
> Perfective gerunds «взяв» and «дождавшись»: Two perfective past gerunds: «взяв» (having taken) and «дождавшись» (in «её не дождавшись», 'without waiting for her'). The perfective деепричастие in -в/-вшись names a completed action bound to the main verb, sharing its subject — here Kolya.
> «струсить» — to lose one's nerve: «Струсить» (perfective) means to turn coward, get scared, lose one's nerve. Kolya extracts a promise that the children «не струсят, не нашалят и не будут плакать» — a small comic catalogue of soldierly conditions for his absence.

В этих мыслях он оделся в свое ватное зимнее пальтишко с меховым воротником из какого-то котика, навесил через плечо свою сумку и, несмотря на прежние неоднократные мольбы матери, чтоб он по «такому холоду», выходя со двора, всегда надевал калошки, только с презрением посмотрел на них, проходя чрез переднюю, и вышел в одних сапогах.  
With these thoughts he put on his quilted winter coat, with its fur collar of some sort of sealskin, slung his bag across his shoulder, and, despite his mother's previous repeated entreaties that, in "such cold" as this, he should always put on his galoshes when going out, he only cast a contemptuous glance at them as he passed through the entry and went out in just his boots.
> «пальтишко» — a shabby little coat: The pejorative-diminutive suffix -ишк- on «пальто» gives 'a wretched/shabby little coat', faintly belittling. The same suffix family (cf. «городишко») colours an object with a touch of contempt or pity, here gently undercutting Kolya's wadded winter wear.
> «котик» (sealskin) and «калоши»: «Котик» here is fur seal / sealskin (a fashionable trim), not 'kitten'; the collar is «из какого-то котика», 'of some sort of sealskin'. «Калошки» (diminutive of «калоши») are galoshes, the rubber overshoes his mother begs him to wear.
> «чтоб(ы)» + past-form for an urged action: After «мольбы… чтоб он… надевал», the conjunction «чтоб(ы)» introduces a willed, non-factual outcome and so takes the past-form verb «надевал», not an infinitive or present. «чтобы» always pairs with the irrealis past form for purposes, wishes, and entreaties.
> Perfective sequence + reflexive «оделся»: The action moves through perfectives — «оделся, навесил, посмотрел, вышел» — each a completed step. «оделся» (from «одеться», -ся) is the true reflexive 'dressed himself', the -ся turning the action back on the subject.

Перезвон, завидя его одетым, начал было усиленно стучать хвостом по полу, нервно подергиваясь всем телом, и даже испустил было жалобный вой, но Коля, при виде такой страстной стремительности своего пса, заключил, что это вредит дисциплине, и хоть минуту, а выдержал его еще под лавкой и, уже отворив только дверь в сени, вдруг свистнул его.  
Perezvon, catching sight of him dressed to go out, began beating his tail vigorously against the floor, twitching nervously all over, and even let out a plaintive whine; but Kolya, at the sight of his dog's such passionate eagerness, concluded that this was detrimental to discipline, and for one more minute kept him under the bench, and only when he had already opened the door into the entry did he suddenly whistle for him.
> Gerund «завидя» + instrumental complement: «завидя» is a perfective gerund ('catching sight of', from «завидеть»), sharing the subject Perezvon. Its complement «его одетым» pairs an accusative object with an instrumental predicate ('him [as] dressed') — the instrumental marks the state in which the dog perceives Kolya.
> The «было» of the interrupted action: The particle «было» after a perfective («начал было стучать», «испустил было вой») marks an action just begun and then cut short or undone — 'started to… but'. It is a delicate, distinctly Russian device for a movement checked almost as soon as it starts.
> Concessive «хоть… а»: «хоть минуту, а выдержал» pairs concessive «хоть» ('even if only [a minute]') with contrastive «а» to mean 'if only for a minute, still he held him back'. This «хоть… а/но» frame grants a minimal point while insisting on the action.

Пес вскочил как сумасшедший и бросился скакать пред ним от восторга.  
The dog leapt up like one possessed and flung himself into capering about in front of him with delight.
> Perfective burst of action: «вскочил» and «бросился» (both perfective) capture two sharp, instantaneous events — leapt up, flung himself — the perfective's gift for sudden, completed motion. «бросился скакать» = 'flung himself into capering', the perfective + imperfective infinitive launching an ongoing activity.
> «как сумасшедший» — like a madman: A stock simile ('like one possessed / a madman'), «сумасшедший» being the substantivised adjective 'mad person'. Applied to the ecstatic dog, it heightens the comic contrast with the iron 'discipline' Kolya has just imposed.

Перейдя сени, Коля отворил дверь к «пузырям».  
Crossing the entry, Kolya opened the door to the "bubbles."
> Perfective gerund of prior action: «Перейдя» ('having crossed', perfective gerund of «перейти») names an action completed just before the main verb «отворил». The perfective деепричастие orders events: first the crossing, then the opening — both performed by Kolya.

Оба по-прежнему сидели за столиком, но уже не читали, а жарко о чем-то спорили.  
Both were sitting at the little table as before, but they were no longer reading; they were hotly disputing about something.
> Corrective «а» after a negative: After the negated «не читали», «а» introduces the correcting positive — 'not reading, but rather quarrelling'. This 'not X but Y' use of «а» (where English often needs 'but rather') is one of its core functions.
> «спорить о» + prepositional, with «-то»: «спорить о чём-то» governs the prepositional after «о» ('argue about something'), and «-то» marks the topic as specific but unnamed by the narrator. The verb «спорить» is imperfective, framing the dispute as in progress.

Эти детки часто друг с другом спорили о разных вызывающих житейских предметах, причем Настя, как старшая, всегда одерживала верх; Костя же, если не соглашался с нею, то всегда почти шел апеллировать к Коле Красоткину, и уж как тот решал, так оно и оставалось в виде абсолютного приговора для всех сторон.  
These children often quarreled with each other about various provoking questions of everyday life, with Nastya, as the elder, always gaining the upper hand; and Kostya, if he did not agree with her, would almost always go off to appeal to Kolya Krassotkin, and once he had decided a thing, so it stood, in the form of an absolute verdict for all parties.
> «детки» — the dear little ones: Affectionate diminutive plural of «дети» (children) via -к-, 'the little ones / the dear children'. The narrator's diction toward Nastya and Kostya is steeped in such tenderness, echoing the chapter's title «Детвора».
> Contrastive «же» pairing the two children: «же» on «Костя» sets him against Nastya ('Nastya… ; Kostya, for his part, …'), a mild contrastive use distinct from its emphatic one. It quietly structures the pair-comparison the sentence draws between the two siblings.
> Correlative «как… так» + tracking «тот»: «как тот решал, так оно и оставалось» ('however he decided, so it stood') pairs «как… так», with «тот» picking out Kolya as the authority and «и» emphasising the resolution. The whole frames Kolya's word as final law.

На этот раз спор «пузырей» несколько заинтересовал Красоткина, и он остановился в дверях послушать.  
This time the "bubbles'" dispute rather interested Krassotkin, and he stopped in the doorway to listen.
> Reflexive «остановился» + purpose infinitive: «остановился» (from «остановиться», -ся) is the intransitive 'came to a stop'; the bare perfective infinitive «послушать» ('to have a listen') states his purpose. The «по-» prefix gives a limited, brief-duration 'listen a while'.

Детки видели, что он слушает, и тем еще с большим азартом продолжали свое препирание.  
The children saw that he was listening, and with all the greater ardor went on with their wrangling.
> «тем + comparative» — all the more so: «тем ещё с большим азартом» uses «тем» with a comparative ('with all the greater ardour') to mark a proportional increase — because he was listening, the more eagerly they went on. The «чем… тем» / «тем» correlative scales one thing to another.
> «азарт» and «препирание»: «Азарт» is heated passion, ardour, the thrill of contest (a French loan); «препирание» (from «препираться», to bicker) is squabbling, wrangling. Together they cast the toddlers' dispute as a fervent, gladiatorial wrangle.

— Никогда, никогда я не поверю, — горячо лепетала Настя, — что маленьких деток повивальные бабушки находят в огороде, между грядками с капустой.  
"Never, never will I believe," Nastya prattled hotly, "that midwives find little children in the kitchen garden, among the cabbage beds.
> Negative concord with «никогда… не»: «никогда… не поверю» keeps the negative adverb and «не» together (negative concord), and «поверю» is a perfective future ('I will [never] believe'). The doubled «Никогда, никогда» is rhetorical repetition, all of one negation.
> «лепетать» — to prattle, babble: «Лепетать» is to babble or prattle, the half-formed speech of a small child (or a tender lover). The narrator's choice of verb keeps Nastya's heated theorising charmingly childish even as she argues like a little logician.

Теперь уж зима, и никаких грядок нет, и бабушка не могла принести Катерине дочку.  
It's winter now, and there aren't any beds at all, so the midwife couldn't have brought Katerina a baby girl."
> «нет» + genitive of absence, with «никаких»: «никаких грядок нет» = 'there are no beds at all': «нет» governs the genitive of the absent thing («грядок», gen. pl.), and the negative «никаких» intensifies it ('no… whatsoever'). The construction is the existential genitive of negation par excellence.
> Dative recipient «Катерине»: «принести Катерине дочку» — «Катерине» is the dative indirect object (to/for Katerina) and «дочку» the accusative direct object: the midwife couldn't 'bring Katerina a baby girl'. The dative marks the one to whom the baby would be brought.

— Фью! — присвистнул про себя Коля.  
"Phew!" Kolya whistled to himself.
> «про себя» with the reflexive себя: «про себя» (lit. 'to oneself') means inwardly, under one's breath — Kolya whistles «про себя», privately impressed. «себя» is the reflexive pronoun pointing back to the subject; it has no nominative and serves any person.

— Или вот как: они приносят откуда-нибудь, но только тем, которые замуж выходят.  
"Or maybe it's like this: they bring them from somewhere, but only to those who are getting married."
> Correlative «тем, которые»: «только тем, которые замуж выходят» pairs the demonstrative «тем» (dative, 'to those') with the relative «которые» ('who get married'): 'only to those who marry'. «тем» is the antecedent inside the main clause; «которые» carries its own (nominative) case in the relative clause.
> «выходить замуж» — (of a woman) to marry: Russian splits 'to marry' by sex: a woman «выходит замуж» (lit. 'goes out behind a husband'), a man «женится». «Замуж» is a frozen adverbial accusative. The children's whole debate hinges on this — marriage as the precondition for babies.

Костя пристально смотрел на Настю, глубокомысленно слушал и соображал.  
Kostya gazed fixedly at Nastya, listened with profound seriousness, and pondered.
> Three imperfectives painting a held attitude: «смотрел, слушал, соображал» (all imperfective) hold Kostya in a posture of grave attention — gazing, listening, pondering as ongoing, overlapping processes. The imperfective is the aspect of sustained inner activity.
> «глубокомысленно» — with profound seriousness: An adverb 'profoundly, with deep thought' (from «глубокомысленный», deep-thinking). Applied to a seven-year-old weighing Nastya's theory, it is gently ironic — the comically solemn gravity of a small boy thinking hard.

— Настя, какая ты дура, — произнес он наконец твердо и не горячась, — какой же может быть у Катерины ребеночек, когда она не замужем?  
"Nastya, what a goose you are," he pronounced at last, firmly and without getting heated, "how can Katerina have a baby when she isn't married?"
> «дура» — you goose / fool: «Дура» is the feminine of «дурак», a fool/silly thing; «какая ты дура» = 'what a fool/goose you are'. Among the children it is an exasperated, not cruel, scolding — we render it 'goose'. The exclamatory «какая…» heightens it.
> Rhetorical «же» + «когда» = 'when/since': «какой же может быть ребёночек» uses «же» to sharpen a rhetorical question ('how on earth can there be a baby?'). «когда она не замужем» here means 'when/since she isn't married', «когда» shading from time toward cause.
> «замужем» — (being) married, of a woman: «Замужем» is the adverbial 'married' said of a woman (lit. 'behind a husband'), the state corresponding to «выйти замуж». Kostya's matter-of-fact logic — no husband, no baby — sets up Nastya's next leap of theory.

Настя ужасно загорячилась.  
Nastya grew terribly heated.
> Inceptive «за-» + reflexive «-ся»: «загорячилась» (from «загорячиться») fuses the inceptive prefix «за-» ('started to') with reflexive «-ся»: 'flared up, grew heated'. The «за-» marks the onset of the emotion; the perfective frames it as a single flare. «ужасно» ('terribly') is a colloquial intensifier.

— Ты ничего не понимаешь, — раздражительно оборвала она, — может, у нее муж был, но только в тюрьме сидит, а она вот и родила.  
"You don't understand anything," she snapped irritably, "maybe she had a husband, only he's sitting in prison, and there she's gone and had a baby."
> Negative concord + genitive «ничего»: «ничего не понимаешь» = 'you understand nothing': the negative pronoun «ничего» (genitive of «ничто») stands with «не» in negative concord, the object in the genitive of negation. A stock childish put-down.
> Narrative «вот и» + perfective «родила»: «вот и родила» uses the deictic «вот» with «и» to present a result vividly ('and there she's gone and had a baby'). «родила» is perfective past, the single completed event clinching Nastya's tale.

— Да разве у нее муж в тюрьме сидит? — важно осведомился положительный Костя.  
"But is her husband really sitting in prison?" the matter-of-fact Kostya inquired gravely.
> «разве» — incredulous question particle: «разве» frames a question expecting (or at least open to) a 'no', voicing surprise or doubt: 'But is her husband really in prison?'. The opening «Да» is a hesitating 'but/now', not 'yes'. Such particle-laden questions give the dialogue its living voice.
> «положительный» — matter-of-fact: «Положительный» here means level-headed, matter-of-fact, sober-minded (not 'positive' in the modern emotional sense — a false friend). The narrator's recurring epithet pins Kostya as the literal-minded foil to imaginative Nastya.

— Или вот что, — стремительно перебила Настя, совершенно бросив и забыв свою первую гипотезу, — у нее нет мужа, это ты прав, но она хочет выйти замуж, вот и стала думать, как выйдет замуж, и всё думала, всё думала и до тех пор думала, что вот он у ней и стал не муж, а ребеночек.  
"Or rather, here's how it is," Nastya broke in impetuously, completely dropping and forgetting her first hypothesis, "she has no husband, you're right about that, but she wants to get married, and so she began to think how she would get married, and she kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it until at last, instead of a husband, what she had was a baby."
> Perfective gerunds «бросив», «забыв» + «свой»: «бросив» and «забыв» are perfective gerunds ('having dropped and forgotten'), prior actions sharing Nastya's subject. «свою первую гипотезу» uses the reflexive possessive «свой» — her own hypothesis, belonging to the clause's subject.
> Iterative imperfective + corrective «не… а»: The thrice-repeated imperfective «думала» mimics ceaseless, going-on thinking ('kept thinking and thinking'). The punchline turns on corrective «не муж, а ребёночек» — 'not a husband but a baby' — the «а» reversing the expectation.
> «у ней» — colloquial for «у неё»: «у ней» is a colloquial/dialectal variant of «у неё» ('she has / by her'), common in 19th-c. speech and folk register. Dostoevsky uses it to keep Nastya's voice childishly informal.

— Ну разве так, — согласился совершенно побежденный Костя, — а ты этого раньше не сказала, так как же я мог знать.  
"Well, that could be," agreed the utterly vanquished Kostya, "but you didn't say that before, so how was I supposed to know?"
> «побеждённый» — vanquished: Past passive participle of «победить» (to defeat): 'the utterly vanquished Kostya'. The martial word, for a boy conceding an argument about babies, keeps the narrator's mock-heroic warmth toward the children's debates.
> «так… же» — exasperated 'so how could I…': «так как же я мог знать» strings the resumptive «так» ('so, in that case') with rhetorical «же» to voice aggrieved logic: 'so how was I supposed to know?'. «мог знать» is the imperfective 'could/was able to know'.

— Ну, детвора, — произнес Коля, шагнув к ним в комнату, — опасный вы, я вижу, народ!  
"Well, you small fry," Kolya pronounced, stepping into the room toward them, "you're a dangerous lot, I see!"
> «детвора» — the small fry, the kids: A collective, affectionate-colloquial noun for children-in-the-mass ('the kids, the small fry'); it is the chapter's own title («Детвора»). Grammatically singular feminine but plural in sense, it lumps the little ones together fondly.
> Perfective gerund «шагнув»: «шагнув» is the perfective past gerund of «шагнуть» (to take a step), naming the completed stepping just before he speaks. The «-ну-» suffix marks a single, momentary step — one stride into the room.
> «народ» — a 'lot', a crowd of people: «Народ» (people, folk) is used loosely here for 'you lot, you crowd': «опасный вы народ» = 'you're a dangerous lot'. The mass noun applied to two small children is teasingly grand — Kolya's habitual half-mocking grandiosity.

— И Перезвон с вами? — осклабился Костя и начал прищелкивать пальцами и звать Перезвона.  
"And Perezvon is with you?" Kostya grinned and began snapping his fingers and calling Perezvon.
> «осклабиться» — to grin broadly: «Осклабиться» is to break into a broad, toothy grin (often a touch foolish or sly). The expressive, slightly low verb captures Kostya's instant delight at the dog's presence.
> «начал» + imperfective infinitives: Phasal «начал» (began) requires imperfective infinitives: «прищёлкивать» (to keep snapping) and «звать» (to call). A perfective infinitive cannot follow 'begin', since one cannot begin a single completed act — only an ongoing one.

— Пузыри, я в затруднении, — начал важно Красоткин, — и вы должны мне помочь; Агафья, конечно, ногу сломала, потому что до сих пор не является, это решено и подписано, мне же необходимо со двора.  
"Bubbles, I'm in a fix," Krassotkin began importantly, "and you must help me; Agafya, of course, has broken her leg, since she still hasn't shown up — that's decided and signed — and I absolutely must go out.
> Modal «должны» + dative «мне»: «вы должны мне помочь» — «должны» (must, ought) is a short adjective agreeing with «вы», and «помочь» governs its object in the dative («мне», help to me). Many Russian verbs of helping, hindering, and trusting take the dative.
> «решено и подписано» — settled and signed: A jokey-formal idiom 'decided and signed' (both short-form past passive participles), as of a sealed document. Kolya's mock-bureaucratic flourish about Agafya's broken leg is pure swagger — treating a guess as an official ruling.
> Dative «мне» + emphatic «же» + ellipsis: «мне необходимо со двора [идти]» is an impersonal necessity with dative experiencer «мне» and the verb of motion left elided ('I absolutely must [get] out'). The «же» adds insistence — 'and I really must'.

Отпустите вы меня али нет?  
Will you let me go or not?"
> «али» — folksy 'or': «али» is a colloquial, folk-flavoured variant of «или» ('or'), common in peasant and old-fashioned speech. Kolya drops it half-playfully into «Отпустите вы меня али нет?» ('Will you let me go or not?'), affecting a homely, theatrical tone with the children.
> Imperative «отпустите»: «отпустите» is the plural/polite imperative of «отпустить» (to let go, release), addressed to both children. The post-posed «вы» is emphatic, almost mock-formal — Kolya theatrically begging the toddlers' leave to depart.

Дети озабоченно переглянулись друг с другом, ослабившиеся лица их стали выражать беспокойство.  
The children glanced anxiously at each other, their slackened faces beginning to show uneasiness.
> Reciprocal «переглянулись»: «переглянулись» (from «переглянуться», -ся) is reciprocal — 'glanced at one another', the -ся encoding the mutual action. «друг с другом» ('with each other') reinforces the reciprocity that the -ся already carries.
> «ослабиться» — to slacken: «ослабившиеся» (past active participle of «ослабиться») describes the children's faces going slack — their bright expectancy loosening into worry. The participle precedes its noun, modifying «лица» (faces).

Они, впрочем, еще не понимали вполне, чего от них добиваются.  
They did not yet, however, fully understand what was being asked of them.
> Impersonal «добиваются» + genitive «чего»: «чего от них добиваются» — «добиваться» ('to seek to get, to demand') governs its object in the genitive («чего», what), and the plural «добиваются» is impersonal ('what is being sought of them', no named agent). The imperfective «не понимали» holds their puzzlement as ongoing.

— Шалить без меня не будете?  
"You won't get up to mischief while I'm gone?
> Compound (imperfective) future «не будете шалить»: «не будете шалить» is the imperfective future — «будете» + imperfective infinitive «шалить» — asking about ongoing behaviour ('you won't [be] getting up to mischief?'). Word order fronts the infinitive for focus; the negation is on the whole prospect.
> «шалить» — to be naughty, get up to mischief: «Шалить» is the verb for children's mischief — to act up, romp, misbehave. It anchors Kolya's whole list of conditions; the noun «шалость» (a prank, naughtiness) is its everyday companion.

Не полезете на шкап, не сломаете ног?  
You won't climb on the cupboard and break your legs?
> Perfective futures under negation: «не полезете… не сломаете» are perfective futures ('you won't climb up… won't break'), each naming a single feared completed act. Note «не сломаете ног»: under negation the object «ноги» slips into the genitive «ног».
> «шкап» — old spelling of «шкаф»: «Шкап» is the older 19th-c. spelling/pronunciation of «шкаф» (cupboard, wardrobe). The form is period-authentic — exactly what a reader of an original Dostoevsky text meets.

Не заплачете от страха одни?  
You won't cry from fear, all alone?"
> Inceptive «за-» perfective future: «не заплачете» is the perfective future of «заплакать» (to start crying), the «за-» marking the onset of weeping — 'you won't burst into tears?'. «от страха» ('from fear') uses «от» + genitive for cause; «одни» = 'alone, on your own'.

На лицах детей выразилась страшная тоска.  
On the children's faces a dreadful anguish appeared.
> Topic-first inversion + reflexive «выразилась»: The locative «На лицах детей» is fronted as topic, and the subject «страшная тоска» lands last as the new information. «выразилась» (from «выразиться», -ся) is the middle/intransitive 'showed itself, appeared'.
> «тоска» — anguish, yearning: «Тоска» is a deep, untranslatable Russian word: anguish, melancholy, an aching yearning or dread. On the children's faces it is a 'dreadful anguish' at the thought of being abandoned — a small key to one of Dostoevsky's central emotional registers.

— А я бы вам за то мог вещицу одну показать, пушечку медную, из которой можно стрелять настоящим порохом.  
"And in return I could show you a certain little thing — a brass cannon, one you can fire with real powder."
> Conditional «бы мог» as a softened offer: «я бы… мог показать» uses past-form «мог» + «бы» not for a real condition but to soften and tempt ('I could [just] show you…'). «вам» is the dative beneficiary, «за то» = 'in return for that'. The «бы» makes the offer alluring rather than blunt.
> Diminutives «вещица» and «пушечка»: «вещица» (little thing, from «вещь») and «пушечка» (little cannon, from «пушка») are diminutives via -иц-/-ечк-, dangling the toy enticingly before the children — 'a certain little thing… a little cannon'. The suffixes do the coaxing.

Лица деток мгновенно прояснились.  
The children's faces instantly brightened.
> Reflexive «прояснились» — change of state: «прояснились» (from «проясниться», -ся) is the middle/intransitive 'cleared up, brightened', the -ся marking a change of state with no external agent. The perfective gives the brightening as a single instantaneous event («мгновенно», in a flash).

— Покажите пушечку, — весь просиявший, проговорил Костя.  
"Show us the cannon," said Kostya, all aglow.
> Imperative «покажите»: «покажите» is the perfective plural/polite imperative of «показать» (to show) — 'show [us]'. The perfective imperative asks for a single, complete act of showing, fitting the children's eager, one-off demand.
> «просиявший» — all aglow: Past active participle of «просиять» (to light up, beam): «весь просиявший» = 'all radiant, beaming all over'. The participle stands as a vivid predicate-modifier of Kostya, his whole face lit with joy.

Красоткин запустил руку в свою сумку и, вынув из нее маленькую бронзовую пушечку, поставил ее на стол.  
Krassotkin thrust his hand into his bag and, taking out a little bronze cannon, set it on the table.
> Perfective gerund «вынув» + genitive after «из»: «вынув» (perfective gerund of «вынуть», to take out) names the action just before «поставил». «из неё» uses «из» + genitive ('out of it'), and the object «пушечку» is accusative — the standard 'take X out of Y' frame.
> «запустить руку» — to thrust one's hand in: «запустить руку (в…)» is an idiomatic 'to thrust/plunge one's hand into' — Kolya dives into his bag. The reflexive possessive «свою сумку» marks the bag as his own.

— То-то покажите!  
"There — show it indeed!
> Expressive «то-то»: «То-то» is an emphatic colloquial particle of triumphant confirmation ('there you go!', 'that's the thing!', 'show it indeed!'). It voices Kostya's gleeful satisfaction as the cannon appears, a flavour English can only approximate with stress.

Смотри, на колесках, — прокатил он игрушку по столу, — и стрелять можно.  
Look, it's on little wheels," he rolled the toy along the table, "and you can fire it.
> Singular imperative «смотри»: «смотри» is the singular (familiar) imperative of «смотреть» (to look) — 'look!'. Here it has weakened toward an attention-getting 'look, see' rather than a literal command, a very common conversational use.
> «колёски» — little wheels: Diminutive plural of «колёса» (wheels): 'little wheels'. The toy-scale diminutive matches «пушечка», keeping the whole cannon-demonstration in a register of small, delightful things.
> Impersonal «можно» + imperfective infinitive: «стрелять можно» is an impersonal possibility — «можно» ('one can/may') + imperfective infinitive «стрелять» ('to shoot') — with no subject: 'and you can fire it'. The imperfective frames firing as a repeatable activity the toy affords.

Дробью зарядить и стрелять.  
Load it with shot and fire."
> Instrumental of means «дробью»: «Дробью зарядить» = 'load [it] with shot': «дробью» is the instrumental of «дробь» (small shot/pellets), expressing the means with which the cannon is loaded. The bare infinitives «зарядить и стрелять» work as clipped instructions.
> Perfective + imperfective infinitive paired: The two infinitives differ in aspect by design: «зарядить» (perfective, 'load it up' as one act) then «стрелять» (imperfective, 'and fire away'). The pairing shows the single preparatory act giving way to the open activity of shooting.

— И убьет?  
"And will it kill?"
> Perfective future «убьёт»: «Убьёт» is the perfective «убить» conjugated like a present, which yields future meaning: 'will it kill (and finish the deed)?'. The single, completed result is exactly the perfective's job.

— Всех убьет, только стоит навести, — и Красоткин растолковал, куда положить порох, куда вкатить дробинку, показал на дырочку в виде затравки и рассказал, что бывает откат.  
"It'll kill anyone, you've only to aim it," and Krassotkin explained where to put the powder, where to roll in the bit of shot, pointed out a little hole that served as a touchhole, and told them that there was a recoil.
> Animate accusative «всех»: «Всех» is the accusative of «все» borrowing the genitive form, as animate plurals do — 'it'll kill everyone'. The fronted object before the verb carries the emphatic weight: anyone at all.
> «Стоит» + infinitive: 'you've only to…': The impersonal «стоит» plus infinitive «навести» means 'one need only aim it' — a sufficient condition. There is no nominative subject; the construction is impersonal.
> Indirect questions with «куда» + infinitive: Krassotkin explains «куда положить… куда вкатить…» — 'where to put… where to roll in…'. The infinitive after an interrogative gives a neutral 'where one should put it', here governed by «растолковал».
> «Дробинка» — a single grain of shot: From «дробь» (lead shot) plus the diminutive/singulative «-инк-», so 'one little pellet of shot'. The suffix isolates a single grain out of the mass, with a touch of smallness.
> «Затравка» — touchhole / priming: The «затравка» is the small vent of an old muzzle-loading firearm through which the charge is ignited. The phrase «в виде затравки» = 'serving as a touchhole'; the boys are inspecting a homemade toy cannon.
> «Откат» — recoil: Here «откат» is the recoil, the backward kick of a gun when fired (from «откатиться», to roll back). The word will fascinate the children in the next sentences.

Дети слушали со страшным любопытством.  
The children listened with terrible curiosity.
> Imperfective past «слушали»: «Слушали» is imperfective: the children were listening as an ongoing process, not a completed act — background to the scene. The perfective «выслушали» would have meant 'heard out to the end'.
> Instrumental of manner: «Со страшным любопытством» ('with terrible curiosity') is the instrumental after «с», describing the manner of listening. The adjective «страшным» agrees in the instrumental.

Особенно поразило их воображение, что бывает откат.  
Their imagination was especially struck by the fact that there was a recoil.
> Inverted word order for emphasis: The neuter perfective verb «поразило» stands first, the subject clause «что бывает откат» last — 'what especially struck their imagination was that there was a recoil'. Russian's free order puts the new, weighty information at the end.
> «Бывает» — habitual/iterative 'there happens to be': «Бывает» is the iterative of «быть»: not just 'there is' but 'there occurs / it is the case that there is' a recoil. The «что»-clause reports a fact, the thing that amazes them.

— А у вас есть порох? — осведомилась Настя.  
"And have you got powder?" Nastya inquired.
> Possession with «у вас есть»: Russian says 'have' with «у» + genitive plus «есть»: «у вас есть порох» = literally 'by you there is powder'. The possessor takes the genitive after «у», the thing possessed stays nominative.
> «Осведомиться» — to inquire (formal): A bookish, slightly formal verb for 'to inquire', funnier here in the mouth of little Nastya. Dostoevsky's narrator dignifies the children's questions with this elevated speech-verb.

— Есть.  
"I have."
> «Есть» as a one-word affirmation: Echoing the question «есть порох?», the bare «есть» answers 'there is / I have'. Russian routinely answers with the verb alone rather than a 'yes'.

— Покажите и порох, — протянула она с просящею улыбкой.  
"Show us the powder too," she drawled with a coaxing smile.
> Polite/plural imperative «покажите»: «Покажите» is the perfective imperative with the «-те» that marks plural or polite address — Nastya is asking more than one boy (or being mock-formal). The perfective requests a single, complete showing.
> Archaic instrumental ending «-ою»: «Просящею улыбкой» is the instrumental 'with a coaxing smile'. The fuller «-ою» (vs. modern «-ой») on the participle «просящею» is a 19th-century literary flavour. «Просящею» is itself a present active participle of «просить».
> «Протянуть» (a word) — to drawl: Literally 'to stretch out', «протянуть» of speech means to draw a word out lingeringly — here a wheedling, sing-song delivery. The narrator uses it again for Kostya at s82.

Красоткин опять слазил в сумку и вынул из нее маленький пузырек, в котором действительно было насыпано несколько настоящего пороха, а в свернутой бумажке оказалось несколько крупинок дроби.  
Krassotkin rummaged in his bag again and drew out a little vial, into which a quantity of real powder had indeed been poured, while in a twist of paper there turned out to be a few grains of shot.
> Paired aspect and case in motion: «Слазил» (colloquial: 'climbed/dug into') with «в сумку» takes the accusative of motion-toward, while «вынул из нее» takes «из» + genitive for motion-out. The two prepositions mirror the in-and-out gesture.
> Passive participle «насыпано»: «Было насыпано» is the periphrastic past passive: short neuter participle of perfective «насыпать» + «было» = 'had been poured in'. It states a result and is built from a perfective stem; the agent is left unnamed.
> Genitive after «несколько»: Quantity words like «несколько» ('a few/some') govern the genitive: «несколько… пороха» and «несколько крупинок дроби». «Пороха» is a partitive genitive ('some powder'), «крупинок» genitive plural, «дроби» genitive of the mass noun.
> «Пузырёк» — little vial: Diminutive of «пузырь» (bubble, bladder, here vial/phial), so 'a little glass vial'. Note the same root «пузырь» becomes Kolya's teasing nickname for the children ('bubbles') later.

Он даже откупорил пузырек и высыпал немножко пороху на ладонь.  
He even uncorked the vial and shook a little powder out onto his palm.
> Chain of perfectives 'he even…': Both verbs are perfective («откупорил», «высыпал»), each a single completed act moving the action forward: he uncorked, then shook out. The particle «даже» ('even') marks this as going beyond what was asked.
> «Немножко» — a wee bit: Doubly diminutive form of «немного» ('a little'), softer and more childlike — 'just a tiny bit'. It recurs throughout this scene, colouring the talk as cosy and small-scale.

— Вот, только не было бы где огня, а то так и взорвет и нас всех перебьет, — предупредил для эффекта Красоткин.  
"There — only there'd better be no fire anywhere, or it'll blow up and blast us all to bits," Krassotkin warned, for effect.
> Apprehensive «не было бы» with «бы»: The past «было» + particle «бы» forms an irrealis: «не было бы где огня» = 'so long as there were no fire anywhere / let's hope there's no fire'. It expresses a feared possibility one wants to avoid.
> Genitive of negation «огня»: With negated existence, the absent thing goes in the genitive: «не было… огня» ('there were no fire'). «Огня» is genitive singular of «огонь», the obligatory case after «не было».
> Perfective futures of menace: Two perfective verbs in future meaning: «взорвёт» ('it'll blow up') and «перебьёт» ('will kill us all off'). «Пере-» on «бить» adds the sense 'one after another, the whole lot' — blast us all to bits.

Дети рассматривали порох с благоговейным страхом, еще усилившим наслаждение.  
The children examined the powder with reverent dread, which only heightened their delight.
> Instrumental of manner «с… страхом»: «С благоговейным страхом» ('with reverent dread') is the instrumental of manner after «с». The elevated, almost liturgical adjective «благоговейный» lifts the children's awe to mock-religious heights.
> Past active participle «усилившим»: «Усилившим» is the past active participle of perfective «усилить», agreeing in the instrumental with «страхом»: 'a dread which had only heightened their delight'. It compresses a «который»-clause into one bookish modifier.
> «Благоговейный» — reverent, awe-struck: A solemn, church-tinged word for the awe felt before something holy. Applied to children gazing at gunpowder, it gently mocks the disproportion between the object and their devotion.

Но Косте больше понравилась дробь.  
But Kostya liked the shot better.
> Dative experiencer with «понравилась»: «Нравиться» frames liking as something happening to the person: «Косте… понравилась дробь» = literally 'to Kostya the shot became pleasing'. «Косте» is dative, «дробь» the grammatical subject the verb agrees with.
> Comparative «больше» — 'better/more': «Больше понравилась» = 'pleased (him) more', i.e. he liked it better. «Больше» is the suppletive comparative of «много/большой», here adverbial.

— А дробь не горит? — осведомился он.  
"And the shot doesn't burn?" he inquired.
> Negation «не» before the verb: «Не» negates the verb it precedes: «дробь не горит» = 'the shot doesn't burn'. Simple verbal negation, with the subject «дробь» in the nominative.

— Дробь не горит.  
"The shot doesn't burn."

— Подарите мне немножко дроби, — проговорил он умоляющим голоском.  
"Give me a little of the shot," he said in a pleading little voice.
> Imperative + dative + partitive genitive: «Подарите» is the polite/plural perfective imperative ('give as a gift'); «мне» is the dative recipient; «немножко дроби» a partitive genitive 'a little of the shot'. Three of Russian's signature constructions in one short plea.
> «Голосок» — a little voice: Diminutive of «голос», so 'in a little (pleading) voice'. The «-ок» suffix makes the request sound small and coaxing; «умоляющим» is a present active participle of «умолять» (to implore) in the instrumental of manner.

— Дроби немножко подарю, вот, бери, только маме своей до меня не показывай, пока я не приду обратно, а то подумает, что это порох, и так и умрет от страха, а вас выпорет.  
"A little of the shot I'll give you — there, take it, only don't show it to your mama until I come back, or she'll think it's powder and just drop dead of fright, and have you whipped."
> Reflexive possessive «своей»: «Своей» ('your own') refers back to the clause's subject, 'you': don't show it to your own mama. Using «твоей» would also be possible, but «свой» is the precise reflexive 'one's own'.
> «Пока не» with perfective future — 'until': «Пока… не приду» means 'until I come back', not 'while … not'. With a perfective future the «не» is part of the temporal frame: the showing must wait until the moment of return.
> String of perfective futures: «Подумает… умрёт… выпорет» are all perfective futures painting the consequences: she'll think, drop dead of fright, and have you whipped. «От страха» ('from fright') is «от» + genitive of cause.
> «Выпороть» — to flog, give a whipping: To thrash, especially a child, with a switch or rod — a routine domestic punishment of the era. The verb recurs at the chapter's close, where Agafya turns it back on Kolya himself.

— Мама нас никогда не сечет розгой, — тотчас же заметила Настя.  
"Mama never beats us with a switch," Nastya at once remarked.
> Negative concord «никогда… не»: Russian requires the verb to keep «не» even alongside a negative adverb: «никогда не сечёт» = 'never beats' — literally 'never doesn't beat'. The double negative is the norm, not an error.
> «Тотчас же» — at once, that very instant: «Тотчас» means 'immediately'; the particle «же» (s. ru.particle.zheVed) tightens it to 'right away, on the spot'. It captures how instantly Nastya leaps to defend her mother.

— Знаю, я только для красоты слога сказал.  
"I know, I only said it for the elegance of the phrase."
> «Для красоты слога» — for the elegance of the phrasing: Literally 'for the beauty of the phrasing/style'; we render it 'for the elegance of the phrase.' Kolya means he added the detail merely to round out his sentence, not because it is true. The idiom mocks his own habit of talking like a little orator.
> Perfective «сказал» of a single utterance: «Сказал» (perfective past of «сказать») names one completed act of saying — 'I only said it'. Against the imperfective «говорил» it would not have implied this one bounded remark.

И маму вы никогда не обманывайте, но на этот раз — пока я приду.  
"And you must never deceive your mama — except this once, until I come back."
> Imperfective imperative for a standing rule: «Не обманывайте» is the imperfective imperative — the right aspect for a general, lasting prohibition: 'never deceive (as a rule)'. A perfective «не обманите» would warn against a single slip. With «никогда» it gives negative concord again.

Итак, пузыри, можно мне идти или нет?  
"So, bubbles, may I go or not?
> Impersonal «можно» + dative: «Можно мне идти?» = 'may I go?' — the impersonal predicative «можно» ('it is permitted') with a dative experiencer «мне» and an infinitive. No nominative subject; permission is framed as happening to the person.
> «Пузыри» — 'bubbles' as a nickname: Kolya playfully dubs the little children «пузыри» ('bubbles'), picking up the «пузырёк» (vial) of a moment ago. It is half-affectionate, half-condescending — the tone of a boy who fancies himself their grown-up keeper.

Не заплачете без меня от страха?  
You won't cry from fear without me?"
> Perfective future as a question: «Заплачете» is the perfective «заплакать» ('to start crying') in future meaning — 'you won't burst into tears?'. The «за-» prefix marks the onset of crying. «Без меня» and «от страха» are both «без/от» + genitive.

— За-пла-чем, — протянул Костя, уже приготовляясь плакать.  
"We're going to cry," Kostya drawled, already getting ready to cry.
> Present gerund «приготовляясь»: «Приготовляясь» is the imperfective present gerund (деепричастие) of the reflexive «приготовляться»: 'while getting ready (to cry)'. It names an action simultaneous with «протянул», sharing its subject Kostya.
> «За-пла-чем» — syllable-by-syllable drawl: The hyphens render Kostya stretching «заплачем» ('we're going to cry') across drawn-out syllables, as the narrator notes with «протянул». The spelling itself stages the child's theatrical, self-pitying delivery.

— Заплачем, непременно заплачем! — подхватила пугливою скороговоркой и Настя.  
"We'll cry, we'll certainly cry!" Nastya chimed in too, in a frightened patter.
> Emphatic perfective future «заплачем»: «Заплачем» ('we'll burst out crying') is perfective future; «непременно» ('without fail') intensifies the vow. Nastya's repetition mirrors and outdoes Kostya's promise.
> «Скороговорка» — a rapid patter: A «скороговорка» is fast, tumbling speech (and also a tongue-twister). «Пугливою скороговоркой» = 'in a frightened patter', instrumental of manner with the older «-ою» ending on «пугливою».

— Ох, дети, дети, как опасны ваши лета.  
"Oh, children, children, how perilous are your years."
> Short adjective «опасны»: «Опасны» is the short (predicative) form of «опасный» — 'are perilous'. The short form, bookish and absolute in tone, suits the mock-solemn, quoted register; the long «опасные» could not stand as predicate here.
> «Лета» — years (of one's age): «Лета» (plural of «лето», summer) is the suppletive plural used for years of age — 'your years'. The poetic, slightly archaic «лета» (rather than «годы») heightens the quotation's old-fashioned ring.

Нечего делать, птенцы, придется с вами просидеть не знаю сколько.  
"There's no help for it, little nestlings, I'll have to sit here with you for I don't know how long.
> Negative «нечего» + infinitive: «Нечего делать» = 'there's nothing to be done / no help for it'. The negative pronoun «нечего» is genitive and pairs with an infinitive in this fixed impersonal construction of resignation.
> Impersonal «придётся» — 'I'll have to': «Придётся» is the impersonal perfective future of «прийтись»: 'it will fall to (me) to…', i.e. 'I'll have to sit'. The understood experiencer would be dative; here it is implied. «Про-» on «сидеть» marks sitting through a span of time.
> «Птенцы» — little nestlings: Literally fledgling birds, «птенцы» is Kolya's tender-mocking pet name for the children, like 'little chicks'. He cycles through such names («пузыри», «детки», «птенцы»), each a flourish of his patronizing fondness.

А время-то, время-то, ух!  
And the time, the time — ugh!"
> Emphatic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» on «время» foregrounds a known, fraught topic — 'and the time, the time of it!'. This is the topic-emphasizing «-то», distinct from the indefinite «кто-то». Its doubling conveys Kolya's mounting impatience.

— А прикажите Перезвону мертвым притвориться, — попросил Костя.  
"And tell Perezvon to play dead," Kostya begged.
> «Приказать» + dative + infinitive: «Прикажите Перезвону… притвориться» = 'order Perezvon to pretend'. The one commanded goes in the dative («Перезвону»), the command itself in the infinitive. «Притвориться» is a reflexive «-ся» verb ('to feign').
> Instrumental predicate «мёртвым»: After «притвориться» ('to pretend to be'), the role taken on goes in the instrumental: «мёртвым» = 'pretend to be dead'. Like «быть/стать», these 'become/seem' verbs govern the predicate instrumental.

— Да уж нечего делать, придется прибегнуть и к Перезвону.  
"Well, there's no help for it, I'll have to fall back on Perezvon too.
> «Прибегнуть к» + dative: «Прибегнуть к Перезвону» = 'to resort to / fall back on Perezvon'. The verb «прибегнуть» ('to have recourse') governs «к» + dative. The particle «и» here means 'too, as well'.

Иси, Перезвон! — И Коля начал повелевать собаке, а та представлять всё, что знала.  
Ici, Perezvon!" And Kolya began commanding the dog, and it began performing everything it knew.
> Contrastive «а» with gapped «начал»: «А» marks the gentle topic-switch from boy to dog: 'Kolya began commanding…, and it (began) performing…'. The second «начал» is gapped (understood), and «та» ('that one') points back to the dog as the new subject.
> «Повелевать» governs the dative: The bookish, elevated «повелевать» ('to command, hold sway over') takes a dative object: «собаке» = 'commanding the dog'. The lofty verb comically inflates Kolya's bossing of his mongrel.

Это была лохматая собака, величиной с обыкновенную дворняжку, какой-то серо-лиловой шерсти.  
It was a shaggy dog, about the size of an ordinary mongrel, of some sort of grayish-lilac coat.
> Instrumental «величиной» + «с» of approximate size: «Величиной с… дворняжку» = 'in size about a mongrel', i.e. roughly the size of one. «Величиной» is the instrumental of respect ('in respect of size'); «с» + accusative here means 'about the size of'.
> Genitive of description «шерсти»: «Какой-то серо-лиловой шерсти» = 'of some grayish-lilac coat', a genitive describing the dog's quality. «Какой-то» (s. ru.particle.toNibud) marks an indefinite 'some sort of' shade.
> «Дворняжка» — a yard-dog / mongrel: A common mutt of no breed, from «двор» (yard) — the dog that lives in the courtyard. The diminutive «-яжк-» adds a homely, slightly disparaging warmth.

Правый глаз ее был крив, а левое ухо почему-то с разрезом.  
Its right eye was askew, and its left ear was, for some reason, slit.
> Short adjective «крив»: «Крив» is the short predicative form of «кривой» ('crooked, askew') — 'its right eye was askew'. The short form states the condition as a fact, a bookish flavour. «Её» is the invariable third-person possessive 'its'.
> Contrastive «а» pairing the two ears: «А» links the matched, contrasting clauses — right eye…, and left ear…. With no verb in the second clause ('was' understood), «с разрезом» ('with a slit') is «с» + instrumental describing the ear.

Она взвизгивала и прыгала, служила, ходила на задних лапах, бросалась на спину всеми четырьмя лапами вверх и лежала без движения как мертвая.  
It yelped and jumped, begged, walked on its hind legs, flung itself onto its back with all four paws in the air, and lay motionless as if dead.
> Imperfective chain for habitual tricks: The whole list of tricks runs in the imperfective past («взвизгивала, прыгала, служила, ходила, бросалась, лежала») — repeated, characteristic actions the dog does as a routine, not one-off events.
> Instrumental with numeral «всеми четырьмя лапами»: 'With all four paws up' uses the instrumental throughout: «всеми четырьмя лапами», where the numeral «четырьмя» and «всеми» agree with «лапами» in the instrumental. A vivid instrumental of manner/accompaniment.
> «Служить» — (of a dog) to sit up and beg: Besides 'to serve', «служить» is the standard term for the trick of a dog sitting up on its haunches with paws raised — 'to beg'. Here it sits in a list of the mongrel's whole repertoire.

Во время этой последней штуки отворилась дверь, и Агафья, толстая служанка госпожи Красоткиной, рябая баба лет сорока, показалась на пороге, возвратясь с базара с кульком накупленной провизии в руке.  
During this last trick the door opened, and Agafya, the stout servant of Madame Krassotkina, a pockmarked peasant woman of about forty, appeared in the doorway, returning from the market with a sack of purchased provisions in her hand.
> Reflexive «отворилась» (middle voice): «Отворилась» is the «-ся» reflexive of «отворить»: the door 'opened' intransitively, of itself. The «-ся» here marks a middle/change-of-state, not a true reflexive. Note the verb-then-subject order, framing the entrance.
> Past gerund «возвратясь»: «Возвратясь» is the perfective past gerund (деепричастие) of «возвратиться»: 'having returned from the market'. It attaches to Agafya, the subject of «показалась», describing the prior, completed action she brings with her.
> «Баба» and «лет сорока»: «Баба» is a plain (often peasant) word for a woman, here colouring Agafya's social rank; «рябая» = 'pockmarked' (from smallpox scars, common then). «Лет сорока» ('about forty') is the genitive-of-approximation: numeral after the noun = 'roughly'.
> «Накупленной провизии» — provisions bought up: «Кулёк» is a paper cone/sack for goods; «накупленной» is the past passive participle of «накупить» ('to buy up a quantity of'), genitive after «кулёк»: 'a sack of provisions she had bought'. «Про-визия» is a bookish word for foodstuffs.

Она стала и, держа в левой руке на отвесе кулек, принялась глядеть на собаку.  
She stopped and, holding the sack dangling in her left hand, set to watching the dog.
> Present gerund «держа»: «Держа» is the imperfective present gerund of «держать»: 'while holding the sack…'. It runs simultaneously with the main «принялась глядеть», both belonging to Agafya. «На отвесе» = 'hanging straight down, dangling'.
> «Приняться» + imperfective infinitive: «Приняться» ('to set about, begin') takes an imperfective infinitive: «принялась глядеть» = 'began watching'. The verb itself is a reflexive «-ся» perfective; it marks the inception of the gazing.

Коля, как ни ждал Агафьи, представления не прервал и, выдержав Перезвона определенное время мертвым, наконец-то свистнул ему: собака вскочила и пустилась прыгать от радости, что исполнила свой долг.  
Kolya, however much he had been waiting for Agafya, did not break off the performance, and having kept Perezvon dead for the appointed time, at last whistled to him: the dog leapt up and set about jumping for joy that it had done its duty.
> Concessive «как ни…» — 'however much': «Как ни ждал» = 'however much he had been waiting'. The «ни» in «как ни / сколько ни» builds a concessive 'no matter how', not a simple negation. «Ждал» governs the genitive «Агафьи» ('waited for Agafya').
> Past gerund «выдержав» + instrumental predicate: «Выдержав» is the perfective past gerund of «выдержать» ('having kept'), prior to the main action. The result-state «мёртвым» is again predicate instrumental — 'having held Perezvon dead for the set time'.
> Perfectives moving the action; «свой долг»: «Вскочила… пустилась» are perfectives carrying the climax forward (leapt up, set to jumping). «Свой долг» ('its own duty') uses the reflexive possessive «свой», pointing back to the dog; «что исполнила» gives the cause of its joy.

— Вишь, пес! — проговорила назидательно Агафья.  
"Just look at that dog!" Agafya said edifyingly.
> «Вишь» — folksy 'just look!': «Вишь» is a colloquial, rustic contraction of «видишь» ('you see'), used as an exclamation of wonder — 'just look at that!'. It instantly marks Agafya's plain peasant speech. «Пёс» is a blunt, earthy word for 'dog/cur'.
> «Назидательно» — edifyingly: An adverb meaning 'instructively, as if pointing a moral'. The narrator's dry word gently mocks Agafya for delivering her one-word «Вишь, пёс!» as though it were a lesson.

— А ты чего, женский пол, опоздала? — спросил грозно Красоткин.  
"And you, female sex, why are you late?" Krassotkin asked menacingly.
> Colloquial «чего» for 'why': Here «чего» (genitive of «что») is used colloquially for «почему» — 'why are you late?'. This substandard «чего = why» is a marker of casual, lower-register speech, fitting Kolya's jeering tone.
> «Женский пол» — 'the female sex': Kolya mock-grandly addresses Agafya as «женский пол» ('the female sex'), a pompous abstraction used as a vocative. The comic pretension of a schoolboy lecturing the cook is pure Kolya. «Грозно» ('menacingly') heightens the put-on severity.

— Женский пол, ишь пупырь!  
"Female sex — look at you, you little blister!"
> «Ишь» and «пупырь»: «Ишь» is a folksy interjection of mock indignation ('look at you!'), kin to «вишь». «Пупырь» literally means a pimple or little bump/blister; Agafya flings it back as a teasing insult — 'you little pip-squeak'. The whole exchange is affectionate sparring.

— Пупырь?  
"Little blister?"

— И пупырь.  
"A little blister, that's what.
> Affirming particle «и» — 'a blister, that's what': Standing alone before the noun, «и» here is an affirming/insisting particle: 'a blister indeed, yes a blister'. It echoes and confirms the disputed word «пупырь» rather than meaning 'and'.

Что тебе, что я опоздала, значит так надо, коли опоздала, — бормотала Агафья, принимаясь возиться около печки, но совсем не недовольным и не сердитым голосом, а, напротив, очень довольным, как будто радуясь случаю позубоскалить с веселым барчонком.  
What's it to you that I'm late — if I'm late, that means it had to be," Agafya muttered, setting about busying herself around the stove, but not at all in a displeased or angry voice — on the contrary, in a very contented one, as though glad of the chance to banter with the merry young master.
> Dative «тебе» — 'what's it to you': «Что тебе, что я опоздала» = 'what is it to you that I'm late'. The dative «тебе» is the person concerned in this curt impersonal idiom of indifference, with no verb expressed.
> Dialectal «коли» — 'if/since': «Коли» is a folksy, archaic conjunction for «если/раз» ('if, since'). 'Since I'm late, it means it had to be.' «Надо» is the impersonal 'it is necessary'; the fatalistic logic is pure peasant Agafya.
> Present gerund «принимаясь»: «Принимаясь возиться» = 'setting about busying herself', the imperfective present gerund of «приниматься» plus an imperfective infinitive. It runs alongside «бормотала», sketching her muttering as she potters by the stove.
> «Зубоскалить» and «барчонок»: «Зубоскалить» (literally 'to bare the teeth') means to banter, jeer good-naturedly. «Барчонок» is the diminutive of «барчук» — a 'young master', the gentry-family boy; the suffix is fondly belittling. Together they catch the easy, fond teasing across the class line.

— Слушай, легкомысленная старуха, — начал, вставая с дивана, Красоткин, — можешь ты мне поклясться всем, что есть святого в этом мире, и сверх того чем-нибудь еще, что будешь наблюдать за пузырями в мое отсутствие неустанно?  
"Listen, you frivolous old woman," Krassotkin began, rising from the sofa, "can you swear to me by everything that is holy in this world, and over and above that by something else as well, that you will watch over the bubbles in my absence, without flagging?
> Present gerund «вставая»: «Вставая с дивана» = 'rising from the sofa', the imperfective present gerund of «вставать», simultaneous with «начал». «С дивана» is «с» + genitive for motion off/away from a surface.
> «Клясться» + instrumental of what one swears by: One swears 'by' something in the instrumental: «поклясться всем» = 'to swear by everything'. «Что есть святого» ('whatever is holy') uses a partitive genitive «святого» after the quantifying «что есть».
> Compound future «будешь наблюдать»: «Будешь наблюдать» is the imperfective compound future (быть + imperfective infinitive): 'you will (continuously) watch over'. The imperfective fits the sustained, «неустанно» ('unflaggingly') watching Kolya demands. «За пузырями» is «за» + instrumental ('after/over the bubbles').

Я ухожу со двора.  
I'm going out."
> Prefixed motion verb «уходить»: «Ухожу» is the imperfective «уходить» ('to go away, leave'), the «у-» prefix giving the sense of departure. The present here reads as imminent: 'I'm leaving / off I go'. «Со двора» = «с» + genitive, 'out of the yard / out of doors'.

— А зачем я тебе клястись стану? — засмеялась Агафья, — и так присмотрю.  
"And why should I go swearing oaths to you?" Agafya laughed, "I'll keep an eye on them as it is."
> «Стану» + infinitive as future intention: «Стану клясться» = 'am I going to swear', the perfective «стать» used as a future auxiliary with an imperfective infinitive — 'why should I take to swearing?'. «Клястись» is Agafya's non-standard form of «клясться» (with «тебе» dative, 'to you').
> «И так» — 'as it is, anyway': «И так присмотрю» = 'I'll keep an eye on them as it is (without oaths)'. The set phrase «и так» means 'even so / anyway'. «Присмотрю» is a perfective future, promising the watching itself.

— Нет, не иначе как поклявшись вечным спасением души твоей.  
"No, no other way than by swearing on the eternal salvation of your soul.
> Past gerund «поклявшись»: «Поклявшись» is the perfective past gerund of «поклясться»: 'no other way than by having sworn'. Here the gerund expresses the condition/means — only through swearing. «Вечным спасением» is the instrumental of what is sworn by.

Иначе не уйду.  
Otherwise I won't go."
> Perfective future «не уйду»: «Не уйду» is the negated perfective future of «уйти» — 'I won't leave (otherwise)'. The prefixed motion verb «уйти» (perfective of «уходить») denotes the single act of departing; the threat is absolute.

— И не уходи.  
"Then don't go.
> Imperfective imperative «не уходи»: Agafya's «не уходи» ('then don't go') is the imperfective negative imperative — the standard aspect for prohibitions. «И» at the front means 'well then, so'. Her flat reply deflates Kolya's grand ultimatum.

Мне како дело, на дворе мороз, сиди дома.  
What's it to me, there's a frost outside, sit at home."
> Dative «мне» — 'what's it to me': «Мне какое дело» = 'what concern is it of mine', the dative of the person concerned in an idiom of indifference. «Како» is Agafya's clipped, dialectal «какое» — colloquial speech dropping the ending.
> Imperfective imperative «сиди»: «Сиди дома» = 'stay home', the imperfective imperative of «сидеть» for an ongoing state. «Дома» is the fixed adverbial 'at home' (locative). The terse command caps her unbothered dismissal.

— Пузыри, — обратился Коля к деткам, — эта женщина останется с вами до моего прихода или до прихода вашей мамы, потому что и той давно бы воротиться надо.  
"Bubbles," Kolya addressed the children, "this woman will stay with you until I come back, or until your mama comes, since she ought to have been back long ago too.
> «До» + genitive for 'until': «До моего прихода… до прихода вашей мамы» = 'until my coming… until your mama's coming'. «До» governs the genitive; the verbal noun «прихода» ('arrival') replaces a 'until I/she comes' clause — a tidy bookish nominalization.
> «Бы… надо» — 'she ought to have': «Той давно бы… надо воротiться» = 'she too ought to have come back long ago'. The impersonal «надо» + infinitive with the irrealis «бы» gives the reproachful 'should have'. «Той» is the dative of «та» ('that one' = mama).
> «Воротиться» — to return (folksy): An older, more colloquial variant of «возвратиться/вернуться» ('to come back'). Its homely ring suits the domestic, slightly old-fashioned register of the household talk.

Сверх того, даст вам позавтракать.  
Over and above that, she'll give you something to eat.
> «Дать» + dative + infinitive: «Даст вам позавтракать» = 'she'll give you (something) to eat / let you breakfast'. «Дать» here governs a dative «вам» plus an infinitive, the idiom for 'let/give to do'. «Позавтракать» is the perfective 'to have breakfast'.

Дашь чего-нибудь им, Агафья?  
You'll give them something, Agafya?"
> «Чего-нибудь» — non-specific 'anything': «Чего-нибудь» is the «-нибудь» indefinite ('something/anything at all'), genitive as the object of «дашь» (with a partitive tinge). It marks an open, unspecified 'whatever you've got', unlike the specific «что-то».

— Это возможно.  
"That can be done."
> «Это возможно» — 'that can be done': Agafya's dry «Это возможно» ('that's possible / can be arranged') is a deadpan minimal assent, matching her unbothered, faintly ironic manner throughout the exchange.

— До свидания, птенцы, ухожу со спокойным сердцем.  
"Goodbye, little nestlings, I go off with an easy heart.
> Instrumental of manner «со спокойным сердцем»: «Со спокойным сердцем» = 'with an easy heart', the instrumental after «с» describing his state of departure. «Ухожу» again is the prefixed «уходить»; the mock-tender flourish parodies a grown-up taking his leave.

А ты, бабуся, — вполголоса и важно проговорил он, проходя мимо Агафьи, — надеюсь, не станешь им врать обычные ваши бабьи глупости про Катерину, пощадишь детский возраст.  
And you, granny," he said in a low voice and importantly, passing by Agafya, "I hope you won't go telling them your usual peasant-woman nonsense about Katerina — you'll spare their tender years.
> Present gerund «проходя» + «мимо» + genitive: «Проходя мимо Агафьи» = 'passing by Agafya', the imperfective present gerund of «проходить», simultaneous with «проговорил». «Мимо» governs the genitive «Агафьи».
> «Станешь» future + perfective «пощадишь»: «Не станешь врать» ('won't go telling lies') is the «стать»-future of intention with an imperfective infinitive; «пощадишь» ('you'll spare') is a perfective future. «Им» is the dative recipients of the lies.
> «Бабуся» and «бабьи»: «Бабуся» is an affectionate-familiar 'granny' (diminutive of «баба»); «бабьи глупости» = 'old-women's nonsense', the adjective «бабий» carrying a dismissive 'womanish' edge. Kolya condescends and cajoles in one breath — and «врать… про Катерину» hints at the gossip he wants kept from the children.

Иси, Перезвон!  
Ici, Perezvon!"

— И ну тебя к богу, — огрызнулась уже с сердцем Агафья.  
"Oh, the devil take you," Agafya snapped back, now in earnest.
> «Ну тебя!» — 'oh, get away with you': «Ну тебя к богу» is a dismissive idiom of mild exasperation — literally 'off with you to God', i.e. 'oh, bother you / the devil take you'. The softened «к богу» (rather than «к чёрту») keeps it good-humored. «Огрызнулась» = 'snapped back' (from «грызть», to gnaw).

— Смешной!  
"What a ridiculous boy!
> Long adjective as exclamation «Смешной!»: A bare adjective «Смешной!» ('what a funny/ridiculous one!') stands as a whole exclamation, the noun ('boy') left implicit. The long form here lets the adjective act almost as a noun — the ridiculous one.

Выпороть самого-то, вот что, за такие слова.  
He's the one who ought to be whipped, that's what, for such talk."
> Infinitive of obligation + emphatic «-то»: An infinitive «выпороть» standing alone urges what ought to be done: 'he's the one to be whipped'. «Самого-то» = the intensifier «сам» ('himself') in the animate accusative, with the emphatic topic clitic «-то» — 'him, of all people'.
> «За» + accusative of cause: «За такие слова» = 'for such words/talk', «за» + accusative expressing the grounds for the punishment. Agafya neatly turns Kolya's own threat of whipping (s76) back onto him.
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Source text: public domain (Fyodor Dostoevsky, d. 1881; Russian from the Nauka academic edition via ru.wikisource). English translation: original, © 1732 Studios (2026); rendered freshly from the public-domain Russian, not derived from any prior English translation. Sentence-aligned by 1732 Studios.