# The Brothers Karamazov, The Lost Dog

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book X — The Boys

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b10-c4. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b10-c4.json.


Коля с важною миной в лице прислонился к забору и стал ожидать появления Алеши.  
Kolya leaned against the fence with an important air on his face and settled in to wait for Alyosha to appear.
> Inceptive «стать» + imperfective infinitive: The perfective «стал» ('began, set about') pairs with the imperfective infinitive «ожидать» to mark the onset of an ongoing process — 'settled in to wait.' This «стать + imperfective» pattern is Russian's standard way of saying someone began doing something durative.
> Instrumental of manner with «с»: «с важною миной» (instrumental after «с») describes the manner Kolya wears — 'with an important air.' Note the archaic adjective ending «-ою» for «-ой» («важною» for «важной»), a bookish 19th-c. variant common in Dostoevsky.
> «мина» — facial expression: From French «mine», «мина» means a deliberate facial expression or affected look, not a 'mine' (explosive). «С важною миной» is the studied, self-important face Kolya puts on — a small irony, since the narrator is about to expose how anxious he really is.

Да, с ним ему давно уже хотелось встретиться.  
Yes, he had long wanted to meet him.
> Dative-experiencer «хотелось»: There is no nominative subject: the experiencer «ему» (dative) governs the impersonal reflexive «хотелось» — literally 'to him it had long been wanting itself.' This dative-of-the-inner-life construction is everywhere in Dostoevsky's rendering of feeling.
> Narrative «Да» — 'Yes, and…': Here «Да» is not a reply 'yes' but a discourse particle launching the narrator's slide into Kolya's free indirect thought: 'Yes, he had long wanted…' It signals confirmation and continuation, a warm conversational entry into the inner monologue.

Он много наслышался о нем от мальчиков, но до сих пор всегда наружно выказывал презрительно равнодушный вид, когда ему о нем говорили, даже «критиковал» Алешу, выслушивая то, что о нем ему передавали.  
He had heard a great deal about him from the other boys, but until now he had always put on an outwardly scornful, indifferent look whenever they spoke to him about him, and had even "criticized" Alyosha as he listened to what was reported of him.
> Imperfective gerund «выслушивая»: «выслушивая» is an imperfective деепричастие ('while listening to'), naming an action simultaneous with the main verb «критиковал». It shares Kolya as subject and packs a whole 'as he was listening' clause into one adverbial word — a hallmark of literary narration.
> Perfective «-ся» of accumulation: «наслышался» combines the prefix «на-» (an amassing, 'one's fill of') with reflexive «-ся»: 'he had heard a great deal.' The «на-…-ся» frame regularly means doing something to satiety; «о нём» here is in the prepositional case (governed by «о»), naming what he had heard about.
> Correlative «то, что…»: «то» is a neuter demonstrative anchoring the relative clause «что… передавали» — 'that which they reported.' This «то, что» correlative is the standard bookish way to nominalize a whole clause as the object of «выслушивая».
> «наружно» — outwardly: A bookish adverb from «наружа/наружу» ('outside, surface'), «наружно» means 'on the surface, for show' — pointedly contrasted with «про себя» ('inwardly') in the next sentence. Dostoevsky builds the whole portrait of Kolya on this gap between the displayed and the felt.

Но про себя очень, очень хотел познакомиться: что-то было во всех выслушанных им рассказах об Алеше симпатическое и влекущее.  
But privately he very, very much wanted to make his acquaintance: there was something likable and alluring in all the accounts of Alyosha he had heard.
> Indefinite «что-то» + present active participle: The clitic «-то» makes «что-то» a specific-but-unnamed 'something.' Its modifiers «симпатическое» and «влекущее» agree as neuter; «влекущее» ('alluring') is a present active participle from «влечь» ('to draw, attract'), declined like an adjective.
> Past passive participle «выслушанных»: «выслушанных» is a past passive participle ('heard, listened-to'), agreeing in the prepositional plural with «рассказах»; the agent «им» (instrumental) names by whom — 'the accounts heard by him.' The instrumental agent is the standard way to express the doer of a passive participle.
> «про себя» — to oneself, inwardly: «про себя» means 'privately, in one's own mind,' set against the «наружно» of the previous sentence. It recurs through the chapter («бормотал про себя») as the seam between Kolya's public swagger and his private doubt.

Таким образом, теперешняя минута была важная; во-первых, надо было себя в грязь лицом не ударить, показать независимость: «А то подумает, что мне тринадцать лет, и примет меня за такого же мальчишку, как и эти.  
And so the present moment was an important one; first of all, he must not lose face, must show his independence: "Otherwise he'll think I'm thirteen and take me for the same sort of little boy as these others.
> Idiom: not to fall face-first in the mud: Literally 'not to strike one's face into the mud,' this set phrase means to make a good showing and not embarrass yourself in front of others — we render it 'must not lose face.' Kolya, anxious about his short stature, is determined to look impressive before Alyosha.
> Impersonal «надо было» + infinitive: «надо было» is an impersonal modal of necessity ('one had to') with no nominative subject; the implied experiencer is Kolya, and the action stands in the infinitive «не ударить». This subjectless 'must/ought' frame is one of Russian's core ways of voicing obligation.
> Perfective future «примет… за»: «примет» is a simple (perfective) future from «принять» — a single completed future act — and «принять за + accusative» means 'to take (someone) for, mistake as.' The particle «же» in «такого же» reinforces 'the very same sort.'
> «мальчишка» — pejorative for 'boy': The suffix «-ишк-» belittles: «мальчишка» is a 'mere kid, brat,' dismissive where «мальчик» is neutral. Kolya, at thirteen, dreads being taken for a mere child and lumped in with these younger «мальчишки» — the whole anxiety of the scene is about not being a child.

И что ему эти мальчишки?  
And what are these boys to me?
> Verbless 'what are X to me?' with dative: A copula-less rhetorical question: «что» (what) + dative «ему» (to him) + nominative «эти мальчишки» — 'and what are these boys to him?' Russian needs no verb in the present, and the dative carries the 'to me / for me' sense of dismissive indifference.

Спрошу его, когда сойдусь.  
I'll ask him once we've gotten acquainted.
> Two perfective futures: Both verbs are perfective simple futures: «спрошу» ('I'll ask,' from спросить) and «сойдусь» ('once I've come together with him,' from сойтись). They stage two completed future events in sequence, with the subject pronoun «я» dropped because the endings already mark it.
> «сойтись» — to get acquainted, hit it off: Beyond literal 'come together,' «сойтись (с кем-то)» means to strike up a closeness or get on well with someone. The reflexive «-сь» here is reciprocal — two people converging — which is why we render it 'once we've gotten acquainted.'

Скверно, однако же то, что я такого маленького роста.  
It's a bad business, though, that I'm of such a small stature.
> Concessive «однако же»: «однако» means 'however, yet,' and the particle «же» tacked on adds emphatic insistence — 'still, all the same.' The pairing gives the rueful, conceding tone of Kolya admitting the one thing he can't dismiss: his height.
> Genitive of description («такого… роста»): 'Of such a small stature' uses the genitive «такого маленького роста» to describe an inherent quality — the genitive of qualitative description, parallel to English 'of small height.' The full predicate is copula-less in the present.
> «скверно» — a bad business: «скверный/скверно» carries a strong note of 'nasty, foul, wretched,' heavier than plain 'bad.' Kolya uses the neuter predicative «скверно» impersonally — 'it's a foul thing that…' — coloring his self-pity with disgust.

Тузиков моложе меня, а на полголовы выше.  
Tuzikov is younger than I am, yet half a head taller.
> Comparative + genitive of comparison: «моложе» is the predicative comparative of «молодой» ('younger'), and the standard of comparison «меня» stands in the bare genitive — 'younger than I.' This genitive-of-comparison is an alternative to «чем + nominative» and is the more compact, common pattern.
> Contrastive «а» + comparative «выше»: The hinge «а» sets a mild contrast ('yet, while'), and «выше» is the comparative of «высокий» ('taller'); «на полголовы» (accusative of measure with «на») gives the extent — 'taller by half a head.'

Лицо у меня, впрочем, умное; я не хорош, я знаю, что я мерзок лицом, но лицо умное.  
My face, however, is clever; I'm not good-looking, I know my face is hideous, but it's a clever face.
> Possession with «у меня» + fronting: Russian expresses 'my face' as «лицо у меня» (literally 'the face at me'), the «у + genitive» possessive. Fronting «Лицо» to topic position — 'as for my face' — sets it up as the theme against which «умное» is the new comment.
> Short adjective «мерзок» + instrumental of respect: «мерзок» is the predicative short form of «мерзкий» ('vile, loathsome'), used here for a state — 'I'm hideous'; «лицом» (instrumental) specifies the respect in which — 'hideous as to my face.' Short adjectives are markedly bookish and confined to the predicate.
> «впрочем» — 'however, then again': A favorite Dostoevskian connective, «впрочем» marks the speaker doubling back to qualify or concede what he just said ('then again, however'). It punctuates Kolya's self-assessment, each clause swinging between vanity and self-disgust.

Тоже надо не очень высказываться, а то сразу-то с объятиями, он и подумает… Тьфу, какая будет мерзость, если подумает!..»  
I mustn't say too much, either, or he'll be right into embraces and he'll think… Ugh, what a vile thing it would be if he thought that!.."
> Impersonal «надо» + reflexive infinitive: Again the subjectless «надо» of obligation governs an infinitive — here the reflexive «высказываться» ('to speak out, express oneself fully'). The «-ся» gives a middle sense: to let oneself go in speech, which Kolya warns himself against.
> Conditional «если» + perfective futures: A real (not hypothetical) condition: «если подумает» (perfective future, 'if he thinks it') with main-clause «будет мерзость» (compound future of быть, 'it will be a vile thing'). «если» without «бы» states an open, possible condition.
> «Тьфу!» — the spitting interjection: «Тьфу» onomatopoeically renders a spit of disgust or self-annoyance — 'Ugh!, Pah!' It punctuates the rush of Kolya's anxious inner speech, the sound a Russian makes to ward off or dismiss something distasteful.

Так волновался Коля, изо всех сил стараясь принять самый независимый вид.  
So Kolya fretted, straining with all his might to assume the most independent air possible.
> Imperfective gerund «стараясь»: «стараясь» ('straining, trying') is an imperfective деепричастие naming the manner in which Kolya «волновался» — a simultaneous attendant action sharing his subject. «изо всех сил» ('with all one's might') is a fixed adverbial of effort.
> Superlative with «самый»: The superlative is built periphrastically: «самый» ('most') declines with and precedes the adjective «независимый» — 'the most independent air.' This is the everyday superlative, beside the bookish suffixal «-ейший».

Главное, его мучил маленький его рост, не столько «мерзкое» лицо, сколько рост.  
Above all, it was his small stature that tormented him, not so much his "hideous" face as his height.
> Object-first word order: The accusative object «его» ('him') is fronted before the verb «мучил» and the nominative subject «рост» ('his height'), so the sentence reads object-verb-subject. Cases keep the roles clear, freeing word order to foreground the tormented Kolya as topic.
> Correlative «не столько… сколько»: 'Not so much X as Y' — «не столько [«мерзкое» лицо], сколько рост» — a balanced correlative that rates one thing above another. Here it sharpens the point: not the face but the height is the true torment.

У него дома, в углу на стене, еще с прошлого года была сделана карандашом черточка, которою он отметил свой рост, и с тех пор каждые два месяца он с волнением подходил опять мериться: на сколько успел вырасти?  
At home, in a corner on the wall, there had been a pencil mark made since the year before, with which he had marked his height, and ever since, every two months he would walk up again with a thrill of anxiety to measure himself: how much had he managed to grow?
> Passive participle + instrumental of means: «была сделана» is the periphrastic passive — past tense of быть plus the short past passive participle «сделана» (agreeing fem. with «черточка») — 'a mark had been made.' «карандашом» (instrumental) is the means: 'made with a pencil.'
> Relative «которою» in the instrumental: «которою» (an archaic «-ою» instrumental of «который») agrees in gender/number with its antecedent «черточка» but takes the instrumental its own clause demands — 'the mark with which he marked.' «свой рост» uses the reflexive possessive, his own height.
> Iterative imperfectives + prefixed motion: The imperfectives «подходил» ('would walk up') and «мериться» ('to measure oneself') render a habitual, repeated routine — 'every two months.' «подходил» is a prefixed motion verb (под- 'up to'), now an ordinary imperfective; «мериться» is reflexive (measuring oneself).
> «черточка» — a little mark/dash: Diminutive of «черта» ('line, stroke'), «черточка» is 'a little dash' — a small pencil tick on the wall. The diminutive lends a tender, almost pitying intimacy to this private ritual of a boy measuring whether he has grown.

Но увы! вырастал он ужасно мало, и это приводило его порой просто в отчаяние.  
But alas! he was growing terribly little, and this drove him at times to sheer despair.
> Imperfective «вырастал» + subject inversion: The imperfective «вырастал» ('he was growing, kept growing') views the failure as an ongoing, repeated fact, not a single event. The verb-subject inversion («вырастал он») throws emphatic weight onto the verb after the exclamation «увы!».
> Idiomatic «приводить в + accusative»: «приводить в отчаяние» ('to drive to despair') uses «в + accusative» of an abstract state — a fixed pattern for 'to bring/throw into (a state).' The imperfective «приводило» marks it as a recurring effect, 'at times.'
> «увы!» — alas: A literary interjection of lament, «увы» ('alas') is consciously elevated, half-mock-tragic here as the narrator dramatizes a schoolboy's despair over his height. The tone hovers warmly between sympathy and gentle irony.

Что же до лица, то было оно вовсе не «мерзкое», напротив, довольно миловидное, беленькое, бледненькое, с веснушками.  
As for his face, it was not at all "hideous"; on the contrary, it was rather pleasant, fair, a little pale, sprinkled with freckles.
> Topic frame «что (же) до… то»: «что до X, то…» is a fixed bookish frame for shifting topic — 'as for X, …' — with «то» resuming the main clause and «же» adding emphasis. It cleanly hands the spotlight from height (the real worry) over to the face.
> Negation «вовсе не» + verb-subject order: «вовсе не» is an emphatic 'not at all, by no means' negating «мерзкое». The inversion «было оно» (verb before pronoun subject) is a narratorial flourish; the past «было» supplies the copula the present would omit.
> Affectionate diminutive adjectives: «беленькое» (from белый, 'white/fair') and «бледненькое» (from бледный, 'pale') carry the «-еньк-» suffix that softens and endears — 'nicely fair, a little pale.' The narrator's diminutives quietly correct Kolya's harsh «мерзкое»: the face is in fact rather sweet.

Серые, небольшие, но живые глазки смотрели смело и часто загорались чувством.  
His small gray eyes were lively; they looked out boldly and often kindled with feeling.
> Imperfective pair for habitual description: Both verbs are imperfective: «смотрели» ('looked') and «загорались» ('would kindle, light up'), portraying a standing, characteristic trait rather than one event. «часто» ('often') reinforces the habitual reading typical of descriptive portraiture.
> «глазки» — little eyes: Diminutive of «глаза» ('eyes'), «глазки» conveys tenderness toward Kolya's small but lively eyes. The whole portrait is studded with such diminutives, the narrator's warmth toward this proud, vulnerable boy made audible in the morphology.

Скулы были несколько широки, губы маленькие, не очень толстые, но очень красные; нос маленький и решительно вздернутый: «Совсем курносый, совсем курносый!» — бормотал про себя Коля, когда смотрелся в зеркало, и всегда отходил от зеркала с негодованием.  
His cheekbones were somewhat broad, his lips small, not very full but very red; his nose was small and decidedly turned up: "Absolutely snub-nosed, absolutely snub-nosed!" Kolya would mutter to himself whenever he looked in the mirror, and he always walked away from it in indignation.
> Short adjective «широки» in portrait predicates: «широки» is the predicative short form of «широкий» ('broad'), agreeing as nominative plural — the bookish predicate form favored for describing fixed qualities. Beside it «маленькие» keeps the long form, a natural mix in 19th-c. descriptive prose.
> Reflexive «смотреться» — to look at oneself: «смотреться (в зеркало)» means 'to look at oneself (in the mirror),' the «-ся» turning the gaze back on the subject. It contrasts with plain «смотреть» ('to look at' something else); here it captures Kolya scrutinizing his own reflection.
> «курносый» — snub-nosed: «курносый» means having a short, turned-up ('snub') nose — a homely, faintly comic feature in Russian. Kolya's doubled muttering «совсем курносый, совсем курносый!» is the self-mocking despair of a boy who wants to look serious and dignified.

«Да вряд ли и лицо умное?» — подумывал он иногда, даже сомневаясь и в этом.  
"And is the face even clever, after all?" he sometimes wondered, doubting even that.
> Doubt particle cluster «да вряд ли»: «вряд ли» means 'hardly, scarcely likely'; the opening «да» and the added «и» ('even, also') layer on rueful doubt — 'and is the face even clever, after all?' Russian builds such fine shades of skepticism almost entirely from stacked particles.
> Gerund «сомневаясь» + governed «в»: «сомневаясь» is an imperfective деепричастие of the reflexive-only verb «сомневаться» ('to doubt'), which governs «в + prepositional» («в этом», 'in this'). The gerund adds the attendant circumstance — 'doubting even that.'

Впрочем, не надо полагать, что забота о лице и о росте поглощала всю его душу.  
We must not suppose, however, that concern over his face and his height swallowed up his whole soul.
> Impersonal «не надо» + что-clause: «не надо полагать» ('one must not suppose') is a subjectless modal directed, with avuncular tact, at the reader. «что» opens the reported-content clause — the plain factual subordinator, distinct from purposive «чтобы».
> «поглощать душу» — to swallow up the soul: «поглощать» ('to absorb, devour, swallow up') is a weighty, almost elevated verb; paired with «всю его душу» ('his whole soul') it lifts a boy's vanity to mock-grand scale. The narrator's irony is affectionate, never cruel.

Напротив, как ни язвительны были минуты пред зеркалом, но он быстро забывал о них, и даже надолго, «весь отдаваясь идеям и действительной жизни», как определял он сам свою деятельность.  
On the contrary, however galling those minutes before the mirror were, he quickly forgot about them, and for a long while at that, "giving himself wholly over to ideas and to real life," as he himself defined his activity.
> Concessive «как ни…» + short adjective: «как ни + predicate» means 'however much, no matter how' — a concessive built with the particle «ни». «язвительны» is the predicative short form of «язвительный» ('stinging, galling'). Together: 'however galling the minutes were.'
> Gerund «отдаваясь» + dative objects: «отдаваясь» is an imperfective деепричастие of reflexive «отдаваться» ('to give oneself over to'), which governs the dative «идеям… жизни». «весь» ('wholly, entirely') intensifies the surrender. The gerund condenses Kolya's self-description into one adverbial flourish.
> «действительная жизнь» — 'real life': «действительный» means 'actual, real,' so «действительная жизнь» is 'real life' as opposed to childish trifles. In Kolya's self-important quotation marks it parodies the radical, world-engaged earnestness of the 1860s–70s intelligentsia he is aping.

Алеша появился скоро и спеша подошел к Коле; за несколько шагов еще тот разглядел, что у Алеши было какое-то совсем радостное лицо.  
Alyosha appeared soon and came up to Kolya in a hurry; while still several steps off, Kolya could make out that Alyosha's face was somehow utterly joyful.
> Gerund «спеша» + prefixed motion «подошел»: «спеша» ('hurrying') is an imperfective gerund of manner; «подошел» is the perfective prefixed motion verb «подойти» ('to come up to'), governing «к + dative» («к Коле»). The pair stages a single completed approach done in haste.
> Possessive «у Алеши» + indefinite «какое-то»: «у + genitive» («у Алеши») expresses 'Alyosha had,' and «какое-то» ('some sort of') makes the face vaguely, strikingly joyful from a distance. «совсем» ('utterly') intensifies — Kolya perceives an unmistakable but unplaceable joy.

«Неужели так рад мне?» — с удовольствием подумал Коля.  
"Can he really be so glad to see me?" Kolya thought with pleasure.
> Incredulity particle «неужели» + dative: «неужели» voices astonished disbelief — 'can it really be?, surely not?' «рад» is the short adjective 'glad,' governing the dative «мне» ('glad at/to me'). The whole question is Kolya's flattered, half-suspicious surprise.

Здесь кстати заметим, что Алеша очень изменился с тех пор, как мы его оставили: он сбросил подрясник и носил теперь прекрасно сшитый сюртук, мягкую круглую шляпу и коротко обстриженные волосы.  
Here we may note in passing that Alyosha had changed greatly since we left him: he had cast off the cassock and now wore a beautifully tailored frock coat, a soft round hat, and his hair cut short.
> Temporal frame «с тех пор, как»: «с тех пор, как» ('ever since, from the time when') is a fixed subordinating expression of time. The perfective «оставили» ('left, last saw') marks the completed point of departure — a self-conscious narratorial nod to the reader.
> Past passive participle «сшитый»: «сшитый» ('sewn, tailored,' from perfective сшить) is a past passive participle agreeing with «сюртук»; the adverb «прекрасно» modifies it — 'beautifully tailored.' Such attributive participles do the work of an English relative clause ('that was beautifully made').

Всё это очень его скрасило, и смотрел он совсем красавчиком.  
All this had improved his looks considerably, and he seemed quite a handsome fellow.
> Instrumental of the predicate after «смотреть»: «смотреть + instrumental» idiomatically means 'to look like, appear as' — «смотрел… красавчиком», 'he looked quite a handsome fellow.' The predicate noun takes the instrumental, the same case that follows быть/стать for a role or appearance.
> «красавчик» — a pretty fellow: Diminutive of «красавец» ('a handsome man'), «красавчик» is faintly playful — 'a good-looking young fellow,' with a touch of fondness or teasing. The suffix keeps the narrator's tone light and warm toward the made-over Alyosha.

Миловидное лицо его имело всегда веселый вид, но веселость эта была какая-то тихая и спокойная.  
His pleasant face always wore a cheerful look, but it was a cheerfulness of a quiet and calm kind.
> Postposed demonstrative «эта» + indefinite «какая-то»: «эта» follows its noun («веселость эта»), a common literary order giving 'this cheerfulness of his'; «какая-то» ('some kind of') makes the quality elusive — 'a cheerfulness of some quiet, calm kind.' Russian's free order lets the demonstrative trail for rhythm.

К удивлению Коли, Алеша вышел к нему в том, в чем сидел в комнате, без пальто, видно, что поспешил.  
To Kolya's surprise, Alyosha had come out to him just as he had been sitting indoors, without a coat — plainly he had been in a hurry.
> Correlative «в том, в чём»: «в том, в чём» pairs a demonstrative «том» with the relative «чём» (both prepositional after «в») — 'in that which / in what he had been sitting in,' i.e. 'just as he was.' Both members take their case from their own clause's preposition «в».
> Prefixed motion «выйти к»: «вышел» is the perfective prefixed motion verb «выйти» ('to come/go out'), governing «к + dative» («к нему», 'out to him'). The вы- prefix gives the precise direction — emerging from indoors — a single completed move.
> «видно» — 'evidently, plainly': «видно» here is an impersonal evidential — 'one can see, evidently' — not the adjective 'visible.' It frames «что поспешил» ('that he had hurried') as an inference Kolya draws from Alyosha's coatlessness.

Он прямо протянул Коле руку.  
He held his hand straight out to Kolya.
> Dative recipient «Коле» + accusative «руку»: A classic ditransitive frame: «протянул» ('held out') takes the accusative thing «руку» ('his hand') and the dative recipient «Коле' ('to Kolya'). «прямо» ('straight, directly') stresses the frank, unhesitating gesture.

— Вот и вы наконец, как мы вас все ждали.  
— So here you are at last; how we have all been waiting for you.
> Presentative «вот» + emphatic «и»: «вот» presents and points ('here, there'), and «и» here is the emphatic 'at last, indeed' rather than 'and' — 'so here you are at last.' The cluster gives the warm, relieved deixis of greeting someone long awaited.
> Imperfective «ждали» of process: «ждали» (imperfective past of «ждать») renders the drawn-out process of waiting — 'how we have all been waiting.' «ждать» governs the accusative «вас» here; the exclamatory «как» colors it with feeling.

— Были причины, о которых сейчас узнаете.  
— There were reasons, which you'll learn about presently.
> Relative «о которых» + perfective future: «о которых» (relative «который» in the prepositional plural after «о») agrees with «причины' but takes the case its own clause's «узнать о» demands. «узнаете» is a perfective future ('you will learn'); «сейчас» here means 'presently, in a moment.'

Во всяком случае, рад познакомиться.  
In any case, I'm glad to make your acquaintance.
> Short adjective «рад» + perfective infinitive: «рад» is the predicative short adjective 'glad,' which idiomatically takes an infinitive — «рад познакомиться», 'glad to get acquainted.' The dropped «я» is recoverable from context; the perfective «познакомиться» frames the meeting as a single accomplished act.

Давно ждал случая и много слышал, — пробормотал, немного задыхаясь Коля.  
I've long awaited the chance, and I've heard a great deal, — muttered Kolya, a little out of breath.
> Gerund «задыхаясь» of attendant state: «задыхаясь» is an imperfective деепричастие of reflexive «задыхаться» ('to gasp, be out of breath'), naming the state in which Kolya speaks — 'a little out of breath.' It nicely undercuts his attempted composure with a physical tell.
> Imperfective «ждал» + genitive object: «ждать» typically governs the genitive for an abstract or non-specific awaited thing — «ждал случая» ('awaited the/a chance'). The imperfective «ждал» with «давно» conveys a long-standing, ongoing anticipation.

— Да мы с вами и без того бы познакомились, я сам о вас много слышал, но здесь-то, сюда-то вы запоздали.  
— Why, the two of us would have gotten acquainted anyway; I've heard a great deal about you myself, but it's here, in coming to this place, that you've been slow.
> Conditional «бы» + comitative «мы с вами»: «бы» plus the past-form «познакомились» makes the irrealis — 'we would have gotten acquainted (anyway).' «мы с вами» literally 'we with you' is Russian's inclusive way of saying 'you and I,' taking plural agreement.
> Emphatic clitic «-то» on locatives: The hyphenated «-то» here is the emphatic topic-marker (not the indefinite suffix), stressing the contrast 'it's here, in coming to this place, that…' on «здесь» (location) and «сюда» (direction toward). Distinguishing this emphatic «-то» from indefinite «кто-то» is a recurring reading puzzle.

— Скажите, как здесь?  
— Tell me, how are things here?
> Polite imperative «скажите»: «скажите» is the imperative of perfective «сказать» with the plural/polite «-те» ending — 'tell (you, formal).' Kolya and Alyosha address each other with «вы», the respectful 'you,' throughout, a marker of their new, careful acquaintance.

— Илюша очень плох, он непременно умрет.  
— Ilusha is very bad; he is sure to die.
> Short adjective «плох» of state: «плох» is the predicative short form of «плохой» ('bad'), used of health to mean gravely ill — 'very bad, in a bad way.' The short form here signals a present, critical condition, the idiom for someone near death.
> Perfective future «умрёт»: «умрёт» is the perfective simple future of «умереть» ('to die') — a single, final completed event. With «непременно» ('without fail, certainly') it states the death as a settled certainty, the blunt prognosis softening nothing.

— Что вы! Согласитесь, что медицина подлость, Карамазов, — с жаром воскликнул Коля.  
— You don't say! Admit it, medicine is a vile thing, Karamazov, — Kolya exclaimed heatedly.
> Zero-copula equation: Present-tense 'X is Y' needs no verb: «медицина подлость» juxtaposes two nominatives — 'medicine [is] a vile thing.' This copula-less equating, with both nouns in the nominative, is the default present-tense predication in Russian.
> Reflexive imperative «согласитесь»: «согласитесь» is the polite imperative of reflexive «согласиться» ('to agree'); «-тесь» = imperative «-те» + reflexive «-сь». Followed by «что», it means 'admit/grant that…' — Kolya's pushy, debating manner buttonholing his interlocutor.
> «Что вы!» — 'You don't say! / Come now!': An idiomatic exclamation of surprise or protest, «Что вы!» means roughly 'You don't say!, Surely not!, Come, come!' depending on tone. Here it registers Kolya's startled, theatrical reaction to the news of Ilusha's coming death.

— Илюша часто, очень часто поминал об вас, даже, знаете, во сне, в бреду.  
— Ilusha has spoken of you often, very often, even, you know, in his sleep, in his delirium.
> Imperfective «поминал» + «об» variant: «поминал» (imperfective past) renders the repeated 'kept mentioning, spoke of'; «часто, очень часто» underscores the iteration. «вас» is consonant-initial, so this is not the euphonic «об» used before vowels; «об вас» is a bookish/archaic variant of the modern standard «о вас».

Видно, что вы ему очень, очень были дороги прежде… до того случая… с ножиком.  
It's plain that you were once very, very dear to him — before… before that business… with the penknife.
> Short adjective «дороги» + dative: «дороги» is the short predicative plural of «дорогой' ('dear, precious'), governing the dative «ему» ('dear to him'). The past «были» supplies tense — 'you were very dear to him.' Short adjectives of feeling regularly take a dative of the person.

Тут есть и еще причина… Скажите, это ваша собака?  
There's another reason as well… Tell me, is that your dog?
> Possessive «ваша» agreeing with «собака»: The possessive «ваша» ('your,' formal) agrees in feminine singular with «собака' ('dog'); «это» is the invariable presentative 'is this…?'. The whole question is verbless, the present copula simply absent.

— Моя. Перезвон.  
— Mine. Perezvon.

— А не Жучка? — жалостно поглядел Алеша в глаза Коле. — Та уже так и пропала?  
— And not Zhutchka? — Alyosha looked Kolya ruefully in the eyes. — So she's lost for good?
> Demonstrative «та» + «так и»: «Та» ('that one,' feminine) refers back to Zhutchka, distinguishing her from Perezvon. «так и пропала» uses the emphatic «так и» ('just so, for good') with perfective «пропала» ('vanished') — 'so she's truly lost.'
> «жалостно» — pityingly, ruefully: «жалостно» ('with pity, plaintively,' from «жалость», 'pity') colors Alyosha's look into Kolya's eyes. The detail signals Alyosha's tenderness — he grasps how much the lost dog matters to the dying Ilusha — against Kolya's cooler enigmatic manner.

— Знаю, что вам хотелось бы всем Жучку, слышал всё-с, — загадочно усмехнулся Коля. — Слушайте, Карамазов, я вам объясню всё дело, я, главное, с тем и пришел, для этого вас и вызвал, чтобы вам предварительно объяснить весь пассаж, прежде чем мы войдем, — оживленно начал он. — Видите, Карамазов, весной Илюша поступает в приготовительный класс.  
— I know you'd all of you like it to be Zhutchka; I've heard all about it, sir, — Kolya smirked enigmatically. — Listen, Karamazov, I'll explain the whole affair to you; that's chiefly why I came, that's what I called you out for, to explain the whole episode to you beforehand, before we go in, — he began animatedly. — You see, Karamazov, in the spring Ilusha entered the preparatory class.
> Dative-experiencer conditional «хотелось бы»: No nominative subject: dative «вам» (with appositive «всем», 'all of you') experiences «хотелось бы» — the impersonal reflexive «хотеться» softened by «бы» into 'you would all like.' The desired «Жучку» stands in the accusative.
> Purpose «чтобы» + infinitive: «чтобы» here introduces purpose with an infinitive sharing the subject — 'in order to explain.' It echoes the earlier «с тем… пришёл» and «для этого' ('for that purpose'), Kolya triply underscoring his deliberate, self-important plan.
> The deferential particle «-с»: «-с» (from «сударь», 'sir') is an obsequious or ironic politeness clitic tacked onto a word — «всё-с» = 'everything, sir.' By the 1870s it sounds antiquated and servile; Kolya deploys it with knowing, faintly mocking affectation.
> «пассаж» — affair, episode (Gallicism): A bookish borrowing from French «passage», «пассаж» means an awkward incident or surprising turn of events — 'the whole episode.' Kolya's fondness for such fancy foreign words is part of his showing-off; the narrator lets it expose his youthful pretension.

Ну, известно, наш приготовительный класс: мальчишки, детвора.  
Well, you know our preparatory class: little boys, mere children.
> «детвора» — 'the kids, small fry': A collective, slightly affectionate noun for a crowd of children — 'kids, little ones,' grammatically singular but plural in sense. Set beside the pejorative «мальчишки», it paints the preparatory class as a swarm of mere children.
> Predicative «известно» + colloquial «ну»: «известно» is an impersonal predicative — 'it's well known, you know how it is' — introducing a shared assumption, very like «ведь». The opening «ну» ('well') is a colloquial filler launching Kolya's narrative in a chatty register.

Илюшу тотчас же начали задирать.  
They began baiting Ilusha at once.
> Inceptive «начали» + imperfective infinitive: «начали» (perfective 'began') governs the imperfective infinitive «задирать' ('to bait, pick on') — phase verbs of beginning, continuing, and stopping always take the imperfective. «тотчас же» ('at once') with the emphatic «же» stresses the immediacy.
> «задирать» — to bait, provoke: «задирать» means to needle, pick fights with, or torment someone — schoolyard bullying. The verb's edge of deliberate provocation sets up the contrast with Ilusha, who «не подчиняется» and fights back rather than submitting.

Я двумя классами выше и, разумеется, смотрю издали, со стороны.  
I'm two classes higher up and, naturally, I watch from a distance, from the sidelines.
> Instrumental of measure with a comparative: «двумя классами» (instrumental) gives the extent of difference with the comparative «выше» — 'higher by two classes.' The instrumental of measure ('by how much') is the regular partner of comparatives, as in «на год старше» / «двумя годами старше».
> Vivid historic present «смотрю»: Kolya narrates past events in the present tense («смотрю», «вижу») for immediacy — the historic present, dropping «я» since the imperfective ending marks first person. «издали' and «со стороны» both mean 'from afar / from the side,' the detached observer's stance.

Вижу, мальчик маленький, слабенький, но не подчиняется, даже с ними дерется, гордый, глазенки горят.  
I see: a little boy, frail, but he won't submit, he even fights them, proud, his little eyes blazing.
> Asyndeton: stacked verbless predicates: Kolya's breathless sketch piles up copula-less nominative predicates with no conjunctions — 'a boy, little, frail… proud, his little eyes blazing.' The historic-present «вижу' ('I see') frames it, and the absent copula makes the portrait staccato and immediate.
> Diminutives of sympathy: «слабенький» (from «слабый», 'weak') and «глазенки» (from «глаза», 'eyes') carry the «-еньк-» and «-енк-» suffixes of tender pity — 'frail little, little eyes.' Through them Kolya's bravado lets real affection for the small, defiant Ilusha show through.

Я люблю этаких.  
I love that sort.
> Colloquial demonstrative «этаких»: «этакий» is a colloquial, expressive variant of «такой» ('such, that sort'); the animate accusative plural «этаких» ('such ones, that kind of boy') borrows the genitive form by the animacy rule. Kolya's word choice is breezy and self-assured.

А они его пуще.  
And they went at him all the harder.
> Elliptical clause + contrastive «а»: The verb is omitted and understood from context ('went at him') — «А они его пуще» is 'and they [did it to] him all the harder.' «а» marks the contrastive turn, «его» is the accusative object, and the gapped verb is recovered from «задирать/бить».
> «пуще» — all the more (archaic): «пуще» is a colloquial-archaic comparative meaning 'more, all the harder, worse' (related to «пуще прежнего», 'worse than before'). It has a folk, expressive ring, fitting Kolya's animated storytelling voice.

Главное, у него тогда было платьишко скверное, штанишки наверх лезут, а сапоги каши просят.  
The main thing was that his clothes were wretched then, his little trousers riding up, and his boots begging for gruel.
> Diminutive suffixes: Russian piles on diminutive suffixes (-ишко, -ишки, -енки) to color a noun with pity, contempt, or affection. Платьишко is not just 'clothes' but 'wretched little clothes'; глазенки is 'little eyes' said tenderly. The base words are платье and глаза; the suffix carries the emotion that English must add with adjectives like 'poor' or 'little.'
> Idiom: 'boots begging for gruel': «сапоги каши просят» ('the boots are asking for porridge') is a folk idiom for boots so worn that the sole gapes open at the toe like a mouth — gaping, falling apart. The vivid image marks Ilusha's family's poverty, the very thing the other boys mocked.
> Imperfective «лезут» in descriptive present: «лезут» (3rd plural present of «лезть», 'to climb, creep') describes the trousers 'riding up' — an ongoing, characteristic state in the descriptive present. «лезть» is the unidirectional motion verb here used figuratively of inching upward.

Они его и за это. Унижают.  
They went at him for that too. They humiliated him.
> Verbless clause + emphatic «и за это»: Again the verb of bullying is gapped: «Они его и за это» = 'them [at] him for this too,' with «и» meaning 'also' and «за это» ('for that') naming the reason. The terse fragment, completed by the next word «Унижают», mimics Kolya's clipped indignation.

Нет, это уж я не люблю, тотчас заступился и экстрафеферу задал.  
No, that I won't have; I took his side at once and gave them a thorough drubbing.
> Fronted object «это» + particle «уж»: The object «это» is fronted as topic ('that — I don't like'), with the verb «не люблю» last for emphasis. «уж» is an intensifying particle here ('really, that I will not have'), lending Kolya's verdict its forceful, decided tone.
> «задать феферу» — to give a thrashing: «задать феферу» (from German «Pfeffer», 'pepper') is slang for 'to give a hot time, a real drubbing'; Kolya inflates it to «экстрафеферу» ('extra pepper') for comic swagger. The German-derived schoolboy slang flags both his bookishness and his showmanship.

Я ведь их бью, а они меня обожают, вы знаете ли это, Карамазов? — экспансивно похвастался Коля. — Да и вообще люблю детвору.  
You see, I beat them and yet they adore me — do you know that, Karamazov? — Kolya boasted expansively. — And generally I'm fond of children.
> «ведь» + contrastive «а»: «ведь» appeals to shared understanding ('you see, after all'); the contrastive «а» pivots between the two clauses — 'I beat them, and yet they adore me.' The paradox, framed by these two tiny particles, is the very point Kolya wants to drive home.
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «ли» turns the statement into a literary yes/no question, attaching after the focused «знаете» — 'do you know this?' More bookish than mere question intonation, it suits Kolya's slightly performative, button-holing rhetoric.

У меня и теперь на шее дома два птенца сидят, даже сегодня меня задержали.  
Even now I've two nestlings at home hanging round my neck; this very day they held me up.
> Possessive «у меня» + numeral «два птенца»: «у меня… сидят» is the 'I have' possessive, and «два птенца» shows the numeral rule: «два» takes the genitive singular «птенца». The plural verb «сидят» agrees notionally with the two creatures.
> «птенцы» — 'nestlings' (the little ones): «птенец» is a baby bird, a nestling; Kolya calls the small children he looks after «два птенца», 'two nestlings.' The fond metaphor — little birds hanging round his neck — captures his self-appointed protector's role and his real tenderness toward younger kids.

Таким образом, Илюшу перестали бить, и я взял его под мою протекцию.  
And so they stopped beating Ilusha, and I took him under my protection.
> Phase verb «перестали» + imperfective infinitive: «перестали» (perfective 'stopped') governs the imperfective infinitive «бить» ('to beat') — verbs of ceasing always require the imperfective. The object «Илюшу» is fronted (animate accusative, borrowing the genitive form), making him the topic.
> Possessive «мою» vs reflexive «свою»: «под мою протекцию» ('under my protection') uses the first-person possessive «мою», which agrees with «протекцию» (fem. accusative). Since the subject is also 'I,' Russian could use reflexive «свою» here; «мою» is equally idiomatic for a first-person subject.
> «протекция» — patronage (Gallicism): Another fancy borrowing (French «protection»), «протекция» means patronage or sponsorship, with a faintly grand, bureaucratic flavor. Kolya's choice of this lofty word for a schoolboy's shielding of a smaller boy is part of his self-dramatizing vocabulary.

Вижу, мальчик гордый, это я вам говорю, что гордый, но кончил тем, что предался мне рабски, исполняет малейшие мои повеления, слушает меня как бога, лезет мне подражать.  
I see he's a proud boy — I tell you he's proud — but he ended by giving himself over to me slavishly, carrying out my slightest commands, listening to me as to a god, trying to imitate me.
> Idiom «кончить тем, что…»: «кончить тем, что…» ('to end by [doing]') uses the instrumental «тем» resumed by a «что»-clause — a fixed bookish frame for a final outcome. «предался» (reflexive «предаться», 'gave himself over') governs the dative «мне».
> Historic present + dative with «подражать»: The present-tense verbs continue Kolya's vivid narration. «подражать» ('to imitate') governs the dative «мне» ('imitate me'); «лезет… подражать» colloquially is 'keeps trying to imitate.' «слушает… как бога' likens obedience to worship.

В антрактах между классами сейчас ко мне, и мы вместе с ним ходим.  
In the breaks between classes he'd come straight to me, and the two of us would go about together.
> Verbless rush + multidirectional «ходим»: The first clause has no verb — «сейчас ко мне» = '[he'd come] straight to me' — a clipped, vivid ellipsis. «ходим» is the multidirectional motion verb («ходить»), here imperfective for habitual 'we'd go about together,' not a single trajectory.
> «антракт» — interval, break (Gallicism): «антракт» (French «entr'acte», a theatrical interval) is used here for the breaks between lessons — 'in the intervals between classes.' The theatrical borrowing is mildly elevated for a school recess, another touch of Kolya's bookish diction.

По воскресеньям тоже.  
On Sundays too.
> «по + dative» of recurring time: «по воскресеньям» (dative plural after «по») means 'on Sundays,' the regular construction for habitual, repeated days. «по» + dative plural of a weekday is the standard way to say 'every Sunday / on Sundays.'

У нас в гимназии смеются, когда старший сходится на такую ногу с маленьким, но это предрассудок.  
At our school they laugh when an older boy gets on such a footing with a little one, but that's a prejudice.
> Substantivized adjectives «старший / маленький»: The adjectives «старший» ('the elder one') and «маленький» ('the little one') stand alone as nouns — substantivized, keeping adjective endings («с маленьким», instrumental after «с»). «сходится» (reflexive 'gets on intimate terms') governs «с + instrumental».
> Idiom «на такую ногу» — on such a footing: «сходиться/быть на короткой (такой) ноге с кем-то» ('to be on a [short / such a] footing with someone') is an idiom for a degree of intimacy or familiarity. Kolya defends his close friendship with a younger boy against school 'prejudice.'

Такова моя фантазия, и баста, не правда ли?  
Such is my fancy, and there's an end of it — isn't that right?
> Tag question «не правда ли?»: «не правда ли?» ('is it not true?') is the standard invariable tag inviting agreement — 'isn't that so?, right?'. The «ли» makes it interrogative; Kolya appends it to extract Alyosha's assent to his self-justification.
> «и баста» — 'and that's that': «баста» (from Italian/Spanish «basta», 'enough') is a breezy 'and that's the end of it, full stop.' The cosmopolitan loanword caps Kolya's declaration with a flourish of finality — and of his fondness for worldly-sounding expressions.

Я его учу, развиваю — почему, скажите, я не могу его развивать, если он мне нравится?  
I teach him, I develop him — why, tell me, should I not develop him, if I like him?
> Conditional «если» + dative «нравится»: A real condition with «если» ('if'), no «бы». The main clause «не могу… развивать' pairs a modal with an imperfective infinitive; the «если»-clause uses the dative-experiencer «он мне нравится» ('he pleases me / I like him'), where the liked thing is the grammatical subject.

Ведь вот вы же, Карамазов, сошлись со всеми этими птенцами, значит, хотите действовать на молодое поколение, развивать, быть полезным?  
After all, you yourself, Karamazov, have taken up with all these nestlings, which means you want to act upon the rising generation, to develop them, to be of use, don't you?
> A pile-up of speech particles: Kolya opens with three particles at once: «ведь» appeals to shared knowledge ('after all, you know'), «вот» points and presents, and «же» insists with emphasis. English can only render this stack with intonation and a tag like 'don't you?'; in Russian it is the very fingerprint of eager, buttonholing speech.
> «птенец» — a fledgling, a nestling: «птенец» is a baby bird still in the nest; here it is affectionately-condescending for the little schoolboys. The instrumental plural «птенцами» follows «со всеми этими» under the preposition «с» (with).
> Reflexive «сойтись» + instrumental of company: The perfective «сойтись» (to come together, take up with) carries the reflexive clitic «-сь», and its companions stand in the instrumental after «с» — «со всеми этими птенцами». The pile of agreeing instrumental endings (-еми/-ими/-ами) makes the case audible across the whole phrase.

И признаюсь, эта черта в вашем характере, которую я узнал понаслышке, всего более заинтересовала меня.  
And I confess, this trait in your character, which I learned of by hearsay, interested me more than anything else.
> «который» agreeing in gender but bending to its own case: The relative «которую» points back to feminine «черта» (so feminine singular), yet takes the accusative because inside its own clause it is the object of «узнал» — a textbook split between agreement and case-role.
> «понаслышке» — by hearsay: A frozen adverb meaning 'by rumor, at second hand' (from «по слуху», by what is heard). It quietly signals that Kolya has been collecting reports about Alyosha before ever meeting him.

Впрочем, к делу: примечаю, что в мальчике развивается какая-то чувствительность, сентиментальность, а я, знаете, решительный враг всяких телячьих нежностей, с самого моего рождения.  
But to the point: I notice that some sort of sensitivity, some sentimentality, is developing in the boy, and I, you know, have been from my very birth a resolute enemy of all calf-like tendernesses.
> Reflexive «развивается» as a middle/intransitive: The «-ся» on «развивается» turns the verb intransitive — the sensitivity 'is developing' of itself, with no agent. The location «в мальчике» ('in the boy') sits in the prepositional after «в».
> «телячьи нежности» — calf-like tendernesses: A set idiom (literally 'calf tendernesses') for mawkish, gushing sentimentality, the slobbering affection of a young calf. The genitive plural after «враг» ('enemy of…') keeps the whole phrase scornful and dismissive — exactly Kolya's pose.
> Narrative present for vividness: «примечаю» (I notice) is imperfective present used to narrate a past episode as if unfolding now — the 'historic present' that runs through Kolya's whole anecdote and keeps it breathless and immediate.

И к тому же противоречия: горд, а мне предан рабски, — предан рабски, а вдруг засверкают глазенки и не хочет даже соглашаться со мной, спорит, на стену лезет.  
And on top of that, the contradictions: proud, yet devoted to me slavishly — devoted slavishly, and then suddenly his little eyes flash and he won't even agree with me, he argues, he climbs the walls.
> Short-form adjectives as a predicate: «горд» (proud) and «предан» (devoted) are short-form adjectives, used only predicatively and lending a crisp, almost diagnostic terseness — 'proud; devoted' — well suited to Kolya cataloguing the boy's character.
> Contrastive «а» and dative «мне»: The little «а» hinges two opposed traits ('proud, yet devoted'), Russian's mild adversative that English must render with 'yet/but'. «мне» is dative — devoted to me — the indirect object of devotion.
> «глазёнки» — those little eyes: An expressive diminutive of «глаза» (eyes), here tender and slightly pitying — the flashing little eyes of a child. The suffix carries the feeling, not the size.
> «на стену лезет» — climbs the walls: An idiom for flying into a frenzy, becoming wild with frustration. The vivid present «лезет» keeps the boy's tantrum live on the page.

Я проводил иногда разные идеи: он не то что с идеями не согласен, а просто вижу, что он лично против меня бунтует, потому что я на его нежности отвечаю хладнокровием.  
I would sometimes float various ideas: it isn't that he disagreed with the ideas, but I simply saw that he was personally rebelling against me, because I answered his tenderness with coolness.
> Imperfective «проводил» for repeated trial: The imperfective past «проводил» with «иногда» (sometimes) reads as habitual, repeated action — 'I would float ideas from time to time.' Aspect, not a separate tense, carries this iterative sense.
> The «не то что… а» correction frame: «не то что X, а Y» is a fixed construction that pre-empts a wrong reading: 'it's not so much that X, but rather Y.' Here it walks back 'disagreed with the ideas' toward the truer 'was rebelling against me.'
> Instrumental of means with «отвечать»: «отвечать» takes its means in the instrumental: I answer his tenderness 'with coolness' — «хладнокровием». The bookish «хладнокровие» (cold-bloodedness, composure) uses the Church-Slavonic full-vowel «хлад-» rather than «холод-».

И вот, чтобы его выдержать, я, чем он нежнее, тем становлюсь еще хладнокровнее, нарочно так поступаю, таково мое убеждение.  
And so, in order to toughen him up, the tenderer he was, the cooler I'd grow still — I did it on purpose; such is my conviction.
> The «чем… тем…» correlative with comparatives: «чем X-ее, тем Y-ее» is Russian's 'the more… the more…' frame, both halves built on predicative comparatives — «нежнее» (tenderer) against «хладнокровнее» (cooler). It sets the boy's warmth and Kolya's chill in proportion to each other.
> Purpose «чтобы» + infinitive: «чтобы» introduces purpose ('in order to toughen him up'); with one shared subject it simply takes an infinitive, «выдержать», rather than a past-form clause. «выдержать» here means to make him hold out, to harden him.

Я имел в виду вышколить характер, выровнять, создать человека… ну и там… вы, разумеется, меня с полслова понимаете.  
I had it in mind to drill his character, to even him out, to make a man of him… and so on… you, of course, take my meaning from half a word.
> «вышколить» — to drill, to school harshly: From «школа» but far sterner than 'to teach': to break in and discipline by relentless training (cf. the German Schule behind it). It frames Kolya's whole pedagogy as a deliberate hardening of the boy.
> «понимать с полслова» — to catch one's meaning from half a word: An idiom for being so in tune that you grasp a point before it's even finished — the flattering intimacy Kolya keeps pressing on Alyosha. «полслова» is 'half a word' in the genitive after «с».

Вдруг замечаю, он день, другой, третий смущен, скорбит, но уж не о нежностях, а о чем-то другом, сильнейшем, высшем.  
Suddenly I notice he's troubled for a day, two days, three, grieving, but no longer over the tendernesses — over something else, something stronger, higher.
> Superlative suffix «-ейший/-айший»: «сильнейшем» and «высшем» are the bookish synthetic superlatives ('strongest/highest', i.e. something much stronger and higher), formed with the suffix rather than «самый». In the prepositional after «о», they pile up to dignify the boy's nameless deeper grief.
> Indefinite «-то»: a specific but unnamed thing: «что-то» with the clitic «-то» marks a real but unidentified referent — 'something' definite that Kolya can sense but not yet name. The whole phrase sits in the prepositional after «о».
> «скорбеть» — to grieve, to sorrow: A bookish, somewhat elevated verb for deep grief, weightier than ordinary «грустить». It lifts the boy's distress toward the tragic register Kolya is about to invoke.

Думаю, что за трагедия?  
I think to myself: what tragedy is this?
> The «что за…?» exclamatory question: «что за» (modeled on German 'was für') means 'what sort of…?' and needs no case marking on what follows — «трагедия» stays nominative. Half question, half wonder, it captures Kolya thinking aloud.

Наступаю на него и узнаю штуку: каким-то он образом сошелся с лакеем покойного отца вашего (который тогда еще был в живых) Смердяковым, а тот и научи его, дурачка, глупой шутке, то есть зверской шутке, подлой шутке — взять кусок хлеба, мякишу, воткнуть в него булавку и бросить какой-нибудь дворовой собаке, из таких, которые с голодухи кусок, не жуя, глотают, и посмотреть, что из этого выйдет.  
I press him and learn the whole thing: somehow he had fallen in with Smerdyakov, the lackey of your late father (who was still alive then), and that fellow had taught him, the little fool, a stupid trick — or rather a brutal trick, a vile trick — to take a piece of bread, the soft inside, stick a pin in it, and toss it to some stray yard-dog, the kind that, half-starved, gulps down a morsel without chewing, and then to watch what comes of it.
> «штука» — the whole business: Colloquially «штука» means not 'a thing/item' but 'the trick, the business, the catch' — 'I press him and learn the whole story.' A casual, knowing word that suits Kolya's man-of-the-world tone.
> Imperative form «научи» as a vivid past: «а тот и научи» uses an imperative-shaped form for a sudden, decisive past action — a folk-narrative device ('and he up and taught him'). Reinforced by «и», it gives the teaching of the cruel trick an abrupt, fateful snap.
> «дурачок» — the little fool: A diminutive of «дурак» (fool) that softens into pity rather than insult — 'the poor little fool.' Here it is the animate-accusative «дурачка» in apposition to the boy who was misled.
> «с голодухи» — out of sheer hunger: A coarse, colloquial expression ('from starvation') for a dog so famished it bolts food without chewing. The low register matches the brutality of the trick being described.

Вот и смастерили они такой кусок и бросили вот этой самой лохматой Жучке, о которой теперь такая история, одной дворовой собаке из такого двора, где ее просто не кормили, а она-то весь день на ветер лает.  
So they fixed up such a piece and threw it to that very shaggy Zhutchka, the one there's all this story about now — a yard-dog from a yard where they simply never fed her, so that she'd be barking at the wind all day long.
> «смастерить» — to knock together, contrive: A homely, slightly ironic verb for cobbling something together by hand — used here of the boys 'fixing up' the pin-baited bread. The casual craftsmanship word sharpens the horror of what they made.
> «Жучка» — a typical dog's name: «Жучка» (from «жук», beetle — i.e. a small dark dog) is a stock peasant name for a mongrel, like English 'Spot' or 'Rover.' That the lost dog is so anonymously named makes Ilusha's grief over her all the more piercing.
> Topic-marking «-то» on «она»: The clitic «-то» pins «она» as the known topic and gives it a wry stress — 'and she, mind you, barks at the wind all day.' It is distinct from the indefinite «-то»; here it simply foregrounds the poor dog.

(Любите вы этот глупый лай, Карамазов? Я терпеть не могу).  
(Are you fond of that stupid barking, Karamazov? I can't bear it.)
> «терпеть не могу» — I can't stand it: A fixed negated idiom (literally 'I cannot endure') with the imperfective infinitive «терпеть» under negation. The whole phrase is the standard, emphatic way to say 'I detest' something.

Так и бросилась, проглотила и завизжала, завертелась и пустилась бежать, бежит и всё визжит, и исчезла — так мне описывал сам Илюша.  
She just pounced, swallowed it down, and gave a yelp, spun round and bolted, running and yelping the whole way, and vanished — so Ilusha himself described it to me.
> A chain of perfectives driving the action: Five perfective verbs fire off in sequence — pounced, swallowed, yelped, spun, set off (бросилась, проглотила, завизжала, завертелась, пустилась) — each a single completed event nudging the story forward, the last completing in «пустилась бежать» (perfective + imperfective infinitive «бежать», 'set off to run'). The prefix «за-» on «завизжала/завертелась» marks the sudden onset of yelping and spinning.
> Aspect switch: imperfective duration, then perfective close: Note the shift mid-sentence into imperfective present «бежит… визжит» to hold the dog's running and yelping in continuous view, then back to perfective «исчезла» to snap it shut with her vanishing. The adverbial «всё» ('the whole time') reinforces the durative stretch.

Признается мне, а сам плачет-плачет, обнимает меня, сотрясается: «Бежит и визжит, бежит и визжит» — только это и повторяет, поразила его эта картина.  
He confesses it to me, weeping and weeping all the while, hugging me, shuddering: "She runs and yelps, runs and yelps" — that's all he keeps repeating; the sight had struck him to the core.
> Reduplication for ongoing intensity: Doubling a verb — «плачет-плачет» (weeps and weeps) — conveys drawn-out, unrelenting action, a colloquial intensifier. The same device runs through the quoted «бежит и визжит, бежит и визжит».
> Comment-first inversion: verb before subject: The verb «поразила» leads, with subject «эта картина» pushed to the end for weight — 'struck him, this sight did.' Russian's free word order lets the emotional verb land first and the cause arrive as the new, stressed information.

Ну, вижу, угрызения совести. Я принял серьезно.  
Well, I see it's the pangs of conscience. I took it seriously.

Мне, главное, и за прежнее хотелось его прошколить, так что, признаюсь, я тут схитрил, притворился, что в таком негодовании, какого, может, и не было у меня вовсе: «Ты, говорю, сделал низкий поступок, ты подлец, я, конечно, не разглашу, но пока прерываю с тобою сношения.  
Above all, I wanted to school him for his earlier behavior too, so that, I confess, I was a bit cunning here; I pretended to be in such indignation as perhaps I didn't feel at all: "You," I say, "have done a base thing, you're a scoundrel; I won't tell on you, of course, but for the time being I'm breaking off relations with you.
> Dative-experiencer «мне хотелось»: «хотелось» is impersonal and reflexive, with the wanter in the dative «мне» — 'I felt the urge to.' This subjectless, feeling-first frame (the experiencer in the dative, no nominative) pervades the inner life of Dostoevsky's speakers.
> Genitive of negation in an existential: With negated «не было» ('there wasn't'), the thing absent stands in the genitive — «какого» (the indignation), agreeing back with «негодовании». The «у меня» frames it as a 'having': 'such indignation as I perhaps didn't have at all.'
> «подлец» — scoundrel, base wretch: A strong moral insult, 'a vile, base person,' from «подлый» (base, mean). It is one of Dostoevsky's key terms of contempt and self-contempt, recurring whenever a character is weighed on the scale of honor.
> «прерывать сношения» — to break off relations: A grandly formal, almost diplomatic phrase ('to sever relations') comically applied to a quarrel between schoolboys — part of Kolya's pompous, grown-up vocabulary. «сношения» here simply means 'dealings, relations.'

Дело это обдумаю и дам тебе знать через Смурова (вот этого самого мальчика, который теперь со мной пришел и который всегда мне был предан) : буду ли продолжать с тобою впредь отношения, или брошу тебя навеки, как подлеца».  
I'll think this matter over and let you know through Smurov (the very boy who has come with me now and who has always been devoted to me) whether I'll go on with you in future, or cast you off forever as a scoundrel."
> Interrogative «ли» introducing an embedded 'whether': «ли» follows the focused «буду» to set up an indirect yes/no question — 'whether I'll go on with you.' It is the bookish, literary alternative to mere question intonation. «буду продолжать» is the compound imperfective future (быть + infinitive).
> Archaic «впредь»: «впредь» means 'henceforth, in future' — lending Kolya's pronouncement a deliberately solemn, old-fashioned weight. (This segment uses the standard «через Смурова»; the archaic contracted «чрез» for «через» appears later, at s80.)

Это страшно его поразило.  
This struck him terribly.
> «страшно» as an intensifying adverb: «страшно» literally means 'frighteningly' but here works as a colloquial intensifier, 'terribly, awfully' — 'it struck him terribly.' Russian readily turns words of fear and pain into pure degree-adverbs.

Я, признаюсь, тогда же почувствовал, что, может быть, слишком строго отнесся, но что делать, такова была моя тогдашняя мысль.  
I confess that even then I felt I had perhaps come down too hard, but what's to be done — such was my thinking at the time.
> «что делать» — the bare infinitive of resignation: A subjectless infinitive question, 'what's to be done?', expressing helpless resignation. It echoes the famous title and is a constant verbal shrug in Russian — note the absence of any nominative subject.
> «тогдашний» — of that time, then-current: An adjective coined from the adverb «тогда» (then): 'my thinking of that time, my then-thinking.' Russian freely builds such time-adjectives (cf. «теперешний», 'present-day').

День спустя посылаю к нему Смурова и чрез него передаю, что я с ним больше «не говорю», то есть это так у нас называется, когда два товарища прерывают между собой сношения.  
A day later I send Smurov to him and have him pass on the word that I'm "not speaking" to him anymore — that's what we call it when two comrades break off relations between themselves.
> Historic present again: Kolya keeps narrating in the imperfective present — «посылаю» (I send), «передаю» (I pass on) — to relive the episode in the moment. The technique sustains the immediacy of his whole performance.
> Archaic «чрез» for «через»: Again the contracted bookish «чрез» (through) — 'and through him I pass on the word' — one of Kolya's reflexive reachings for elevated diction.
> «товарищ» — comrade, fellow: Here in its old, pre-Soviet sense: a comrade, a schoolmate or peer. «когда два товарища прерывают между собой сношения» — the boys' code of falling-out is solemnized in this word.

Тайна в том, что я хотел его выдержать на фербанте всего только несколько дней, а там, видя раскаяние, опять протянуть ему руку.  
The secret was that I meant to keep him on this ban for only a few days, and then, seeing his repentance, to hold out my hand to him again.
> «фербант» — schoolboy slang for being 'in Coventry': A garbled borrowing (apparently from German Verband / verbannt, 'banned') for being put under a boycott, sent to social exile. The exotic, half-understood word is itself a joke about boyish posturing — Kolya wields it like a technical term.
> Present gerund «видя» — attendant circumstance: «видя» is the imperfective present gerund («деепричастие»), 'seeing/upon seeing,' compressing a whole 'when I saw' clause into one word that shares the main subject. It sets up the simultaneous condition for holding out his hand.

Это было твердое мое намерение.  
That was my firm intention.
> Possessive after the noun for emphasis: Placing «мое» after «твердое» («твердое мое намерение» rather than «мое твердое намерение») throws weight onto 'firm' and gives the sentence a measured, declarative cadence — Kolya solemnly underlining his resolve.

Но что же вы думаете: выслушал от Смурова, и вдруг у него засверкали глаза.  
But what do you suppose: he heard Smurov out, and suddenly his eyes flashed.
> «у него» possessor + inceptive «за-»: Russian locates bodily reactions with «у» + genitive: «у него засверкали глаза» — 'his eyes flashed' (lit. 'by him the eyes flashed'). The perfective prefix «за-» on «засверкали» marks the sudden onset of the flashing.

«Передай, — закричал он, — от меня Красоткину, что я всем собакам буду теперь куски с булавками кидать, всем, всем!» — «А, думаю, вольный душок завелся, его надо выкурить», — и стал ему выказывать полное презрение, при всякой встрече отвертываюсь или иронически улыбаюсь.  
"Tell Krassotkin from me," he cried, "that I'll throw pieces of bread with pins in them to every dog now, every one, every one!" — "Aha," I think, "a spirit of rebellion has set in; he must be smoked out" — and I began to show him utter contempt, turning away at every encounter or smiling ironically.
> Compound future + dative recipients: «буду кидать» is the imperfective compound future (быть + infinitive), framing an ongoing future threat. «всем собакам» is the dative of the recipients — 'I'll throw pieces to every dog' — the indirect object of the throwing.
> «вольный душок» — a whiff of rebellion: «душок» is a diminutive of «дух» (spirit) but with a faintly negative tang — 'a little spirit, a whiff' (the word also means a bad smell). «вольный душок завелся» = 'a streak of insubordination has set in.' Kolya diagnoses defiance as something to be 'smoked out.'

И вдруг тут происходит этот случай с его отцом, помните, мочалка-то?  
And then suddenly there comes this business with his father — remember, the bit about the wisp of tow?

Поймите, что он таким образом уже предварительно приготовлен был к страшному раздражению.  
Understand that he had thus already been primed in advance for terrible exasperation.
> Short passive participle + «был» — the periphrastic passive: «приготовлен» is the short-form past passive participle of «приготовить», joined to «был» to state a result: 'he had been primed/prepared.' This быть + short-participle pattern is Russian's true passive, and «предварительно» ('beforehand') stresses the prior groundwork.

Мальчики, видя, что я его оставил, накинулись на него, дразнят: «Мочалка, мочалка».  
The boys, seeing that I had dropped him, fell upon him, taunting him: "Wisp of tow, wisp of tow."
> Gerund «видя» framing the boys' onslaught: «видя» (seeing) is again the present gerund, fixing the boys' motive as simultaneous with their attack: 'seeing that I'd dropped him, they fell on him.' The perfective «накинулись» and present «дразнят» then carry the pounce and the ongoing taunting.

Вот тут-то у них и начались баталии, о которых я страшно сожалею, потому что его, кажется, очень больно тогда раз избили.  
It was then that the pitched battles started between them, which I bitterly regret, because they once, it seems, beat him very painfully.
> «баталия» — a (mock-)grand 'battle': A bookish loan ('battle,' via French/Italian) used half-ironically for schoolyard brawls — 'pitched battles.' The lofty word against the petty fights is part of the chapter's gently comic-tragic register.
> Relative «которых» governed by the verb's preposition: «сожалеть» governs «о» + prepositional, so the relative appears as «о которых» ('which I regret'), agreeing in number/gender with «баталии» but taking the case its own clause demands.

Вот раз он бросается на всех на дворе, когда выходили из классов, а я как раз стою в десяти шагах и смотрю на него.  
One day he flings himself at the whole crowd in the yard as they were coming out of class, and I happen to be standing ten paces off, watching him.
> Contrastive «а» pairing two simultaneous scenes: «а» here is not 'but' so much as a hinge between two parallel pictures — the boy lunging, Kolya standing by — both in the vivid present. This topic-shifting «а» is one of Russian's most characteristic, untranslatable connectives.
> Numeral + noun in the prepositional: Under «в» the whole numeral phrase stands in the prepositional: «шагах» is the prepositional plural (the genitive plural would be «шагов»), agreeing in case with the declined numeral «десяти» ('ten paces off'). The 'five-and-up takes the genitive plural' rule applies only when the numeral phrase is nominative or accusative; in oblique cases the counted noun re-declines to match the numeral. Distance is regularly measured this way.

И клянусь, я не помню, чтоб я тогда смеялся, напротив, мне тогда очень, очень стало жалко его, и еще миг, и я бы бросился его защищать.  
And I swear I don't remember laughing then; on the contrary, I felt very, very sorry for him just then, and one more instant and I'd have rushed to defend him.
> «чтобы» (here «чтоб») after a negated verb of perception: After negated «не помню» Russian uses «чтоб(ы)» + past-form verb for the unasserted content — 'I don't recall that I laughed.' The clipped «чтоб» (for «чтобы») is colloquial. This is the irrealis-flavored complement, not plain reported «что».
> Conditional «бы» for the near-miss: «я бы бросился» is the conditional (past form + «бы»): 'I would have rushed' — an action that almost happened. The terse «еще миг, и…» ('one more instant and…') sets up the unrealized rescue with quiet pathos.
> Dative-experiencer «мне жалко»: Pity is framed impersonally: «мне жалко его» — 'to me it became pitiful of him,' the feeler in the dative, the object of pity in the genitive/accusative, and no nominative subject. The inceptive «стало» marks the feeling welling up.

Но он вдруг встретил мой взгляд: что ему показалось — не знаю, но он выхватил перочинный ножик, бросился на меня и ткнул мне его в бедро, вот тут, у правой ноги.  
But he suddenly caught my eye: what he imagined I don't know, but he whipped out a penknife, threw himself at me, and stabbed me with it in the thigh, right here, by the right leg.
> Dative-experiencer «ему показалось»: «показаться» takes its experiencer in the dative: «ему показалось» — 'it seemed to him, what he imagined.' Fronting the embedded question before «не знаю» heightens the suspense of the boy's sudden, unreadable impulse.
> «перочинный ножик» — a penknife: Literally a 'quill-mending little knife' (from «перо», pen/quill, + «чинить», to mend) — the small folding knife once used to cut quills. The diminutive «ножик» (little knife) makes the weapon almost pathetically small against the violence of the act.

Я не двинулся, я, признаюсь, иногда бываю храбр, Карамазов, я только посмотрел с презрением, как бы говоря взглядом: «Не хочешь ли, мол, еще, за всю мою дружбу, так я к твоим услугам».  
I didn't budge; I confess I can be brave at times, Karamazov — I only looked at him with contempt, as if to say with my glance: "Would you like some more, perhaps, in return for all my friendship? Then I'm at your service."
> «как бы» + gerund «говоря» — 'as if saying': «как бы говоря» pairs the hedging «как бы» ('as it were, as if') with the present gerund «говоря» (saying) to mean 'as if to say.' «взглядом» is the instrumental of means — saying it 'with a glance.'
> «ли» offer + the reportative particle «мол»: «не хочешь ли» softens an offer into a sardonic question via «ли» ('wouldn't you like…?'). «мол» is a quotative particle flagging reported/imagined speech — 'as if to say.' Together they stage Kolya's silent, mocking challenge.
> «к вашим услугам» — at your service: A formula of formal courtesy ('at your service'), here turned coldly ironic — Kolya offering his own body to be stabbed again as if granting a favor. The clash of politeness and menace is the whole point.

Но он другой раз не пырнул, он не выдержал, он сам испугался, бросил ножик, заплакал в голос и пустился бежать.  
But he didn't strike a second time; he couldn't keep it up, he frightened himself, flung down the knife, broke into loud sobs, and took to his heels.
> «пырнуть» — to jab, stab once: An expressive, low-register verb for a single quick stab. Its «-ну-» (semelfactive) shape names one sharp instantaneous act — 'he didn't strike a second time.'
> Perfective string + reflexive «испугался»: A run of perfectives ('frightened himself, flung, burst out crying, took off') drives the collapse, with the inceptive «за-» on «заплакал» marking the sudden onset of weeping. «испугался» carries the reflexive «-ся» (to take fright, get scared).

Я, разумеется, не фискалил и приказал всем молчать, чтобы не дошло до начальства, даже матери сказал, только когда всё зажило, да и ранка была пустая, царапина.  
I, of course, didn't tell on him, and ordered everyone to keep quiet so it wouldn't reach the authorities; I didn't even tell my mother until it had all healed over — and the wound was a slight one anyway, a scratch.
> «фискалить» — to tell tales, inform: Schoolboy slang (from «фискал», an old word for a state informer, ultimately Latin fiscalis) for snitching to authority. Among the boys, not 'fiscalling' is a point of honor — Kolya prides himself on it.
> Negative purpose «чтобы не»: «чтобы не дошло» = 'so that it wouldn't reach…', purpose «чтобы» plus the past-form irrealis verb (here «дошло»). «начальства» ('the authorities, the school heads') is genitive after «до».
> «ранка» — a little wound: «ранка» is the diminutive of «рана» (wound), and «царапина» is a scratch — Kolya playing the injury down. The small-making suffix matches his casual bravado: 'the wound was nothing, a scratch.'

Потом слышу, в тот же день он бросался камнями и вам палец укусил, — но, понимаете, в каком он был состоянии!  
Then I hear that the very same day he was throwing stones and bit your finger — but, you understand, think what a state he was in!
> Exclamatory «в каком… состоянии»: «какой» here is exclamatory ('what a state!'), with the whole phrase in the prepositional after «в» — «в каком… состоянии». Word order wraps the noun around the verb for an emphatic, exclamatory close.

Ну что делать, я сделал глупо: когда он заболел, я не пошел его простить, то есть помириться, теперь раскаиваюсь.  
Well, what's to be done, I acted stupidly: when he fell ill, I didn't go to forgive him, that is, to make peace, and now I'm sorry for it.
> Reflexive «помириться» — to reconcile: «помириться» carries the reciprocal «-ся»: to make peace 'with each other,' to be reconciled — Kolya correcting «простить» (to forgive him) into the more mutual «помириться». The reflexive marks the two-sided nature of reconciliation.
> Reflexive «раскаиваться» — to repent: «раскаиваюсь» (I repent, I'm sorry) is a «-ся» verb of inner feeling — repentance turned back on the self. Set against Ilusha's «раскаяние» earlier, the theme of contrition runs through the whole episode.

Но тут уж у меня явились особые цели.  
But by then I had particular aims of my own.
> «у меня» possessor + reflexive «явились»: «у меня явились… цели» frames it as a 'having': 'I came to have particular aims' (lit. 'aims appeared by me'). «явились» is the perfective reflexive of «являться», here 'arose, appeared,' agreeing with plural «цели».

Ну вот и вся история… только, кажется, я сделал глупо…  
Well, that's the whole story… only it seems I acted stupidly…
> «сделать глупо» — to act stupidly: «сделал глупо» — 'I acted stupidly,' with the neuter-form adverb «глупо» modifying the verb rather than describing a thing. The repeated «я сделал глупо» bookends Kolya's confession with rueful self-judgment.

— Ах, как это жаль, — воскликнул с волнением Алеша, — что я не знал ваших этих с ним отношений раньше, а то бы я сам давно уже пришел к вам вас просить пойти к нему со мной вместе.  
— Ah, what a pity, — Alyosha exclaimed with emotion, — that I didn't know of these relations of yours with him sooner, or I'd have come to you myself long ago to ask you to go to him together with me.
> «а то бы» — counterfactual 'otherwise I would have': «а то» means 'otherwise, or else,' and with «бы» + past «пришел» it becomes a counterfactual: 'or else I'd long since have come.' The mobile «бы» leans on «а то» rather than the verb — exactly the irrealis particle's habit.
> Stacked infinitives of purpose: A chain of infinitives — «пришел… просить пойти» ('come… to ask… to go') — each naming a further purpose without any conjunction, a compact Russian way to nest intentions. «пойти» is the perfective of single-trajectory motion.

Верите ли, в жару, в болезни, он бредил вами.  
Would you believe it, in his fever, in his illness, he raved about you.
> «верите ли» — 'would you believe it': «ли» turns «верите» into an appealing rhetorical question — 'would you believe it?' — a buttonholing opener that recurs three times in Alyosha's speech here. It draws the listener into shared astonishment.
> Instrumental object of «бредить»: «бредить» (to rave, be delirious) governs the instrumental: «бредил вами» — 'he raved about you' (lit. 'with/by you'). The case turns Alyosha into the very substance of the boy's feverish delirium.

Я и не знал, как вы ему дороги!  
I never knew how dear you were to him!
> Short adjective «дороги» + dative: «дороги» is the short-form predicative adjective ('dear'), agreeing with «вы» (plural/polite), and «ему» is the dative of the one to whom Alyosha is dear: 'how dear you were to him.' Short forms are the natural predicate of feeling.

И неужели, неужели вы так и не отыскали эту Жучку?  
And can it really be, really be, that you never found this Zhutchka?
> Incredulous «неужели» + emphatic «так и не»: «неужели» voices astonished doubt ('can it really be?'), doubled for intensity, while «так и не» means 'never did after all, simply failed to' — together a wave of disbelief that the dog was never found. «отыскали» is perfective: the search came to no result.

Отец и все мальчики по всему городу разыскивали.  
His father and all the boys searched the whole town over.
> «по» + dative for spread-out motion: «по всему городу» — 'all over the town,' «по» + dative expressing diffuse movement across an area. The imperfective «разыскивали» views the searching as a prolonged, repeated effort rather than a single act.

Верите ли, он, больной, в слезах, три раза при мне уж повторял отцу: «Это оттого я болен, папа, что я Жучку тогда убил, это меня бог наказал», — не собьешь его с этой мысли!  
Would you believe it, three times in my presence, the sick boy, in tears, repeated to his father: "It's because I killed Zhutchka back then that I'm ill, papa; God is punishing me for it" — and there's no shaking him from that idea!
> Generalized 2nd-person «не собьёшь»: «не собьёшь» is a 2nd-person singular perfective future used impersonally — 'you can't shake him,' i.e. one cannot — a common Russian way to state a general impossibility. The «с» + genitive «с этой мысли» means 'off that idea.'

И если бы только достали теперь эту Жучку и показали, что она не умерла, а живая, то, кажется, он бы воскрес от радости.  
And if only this Zhutchka could be found now and shown to him alive, that she hadn't died, then it seems he'd rise again from sheer joy.
> Full counterfactual conditional with «бы… бы»: Both clauses carry «бы»: «если бы… достали» (if only they got) sets the unreal condition, «он бы воскрес» (he would rise) the unreal result — a textbook irrealis built on past-form verbs plus the particle. The wish hangs entirely in the hypothetical.

Все мы на вас надеялись.  
We all set our hopes on you.
> «надеяться на» + accusative: «надеяться» governs «на» + accusative for the one hoped in: «на вас надеялись» — 'we set our hopes on you.' Fronting «на вас» before the verb puts the whole weight of expectation onto Kolya.

— Скажите, с какой же стати надеялись, что я отыщу Жучку, то есть что именно я отыщу? — с чрезвычайным любопытством спросил Коля, — почему именно на меня рассчитывали, а не на другого?  
— Tell me, on what grounds did you hope that I would find Zhutchka, that is, that I in particular would find her? — Kolya asked with the keenest curiosity. — Why was it on me in particular that you counted, and not on someone else?
> «с какой стати» + insistent «же»: «с какой стати» is an idiom meaning 'on what grounds, why on earth,' and the inserted «же» sharpens the demand ('why ever…?'). The particle gives Kolya's challenge its prickly, self-important edge.
> Emphatic «именно» + «рассчитывать на»: «именно я» pins the focus — 'that I in particular would find her.' «рассчитывать на» governs «на» + accusative («на меня»): to count on someone. Kolya's vanity is built right into the syntax of insistent self-reference.

— Какой-то слух был, что вы ее отыскиваете и что когда отыщете ее, то приведете.  
— There was some rumor that you were looking for her and that when you found her you'd bring her back.
> Perfective future for sequenced events: «отыщете… приведете» are perfective futures ('when you find her, you'll bring her'), each a single completed act, with «когда» here meaning 'once.' The correlative «то» ('then') ties the condition to its result.
> «какой-то» — some (unspecified) rumor: «какой-то» with the «-то» clitic marks a real but vague referent — 'some rumor or other.' It keeps the source of the hope deliberately hazy, which is just what nettles Kolya.

Смуров что-то говорил в этом роде.  
Smurov said something to that effect.
> Indefinite «что-то» as vague object: «что-то» ('something') leaves the content unspecified — 'said something to that effect.' «в этом роде» ('of that sort') is the set phrase for an approximate paraphrase.

Мы, главное, всё стараемся уверить, что Жучка жива, что ее где-то видели.  
The main thing is we keep trying to assure him that Zhutchka is alive, that she's been seen somewhere.
> Durative «всё стараемся» + zero-copula predicate: «всё стараемся» — the adverb «всё» ('keep on') with imperfective present gives ongoing, repeated effort. Inside the «что»-clause, «Жучка жива» has no copula: present-tense 'X is Y' simply juxtaposes subject and short adjective.
> Subjectless 3rd-plural for the impersonal 'they': «видели» with no stated subject is the indefinite 'they saw / she was seen' — Russian's everyday impersonal. «где-то» ('somewhere') is the specific-but-unknown place, again the «-то» series.

Мальчики ему живого зайчика откуда-то достали, только он посмотрел, чуть-чуть улыбнулся и попросил, чтобы выпустили его в поле.  
The boys got him a live hare from somewhere, but he only looked at it, smiled a little, and asked that it be let go in the field.
> «зайчик» — a little hare: The affectionate diminutive of «заяц» (hare), 'a little bunny,' fitting the boys' tender wish to console the sick child. The animate-accusative «зайчика» also shows animacy borrowing the genitive ending.
> «чтобы» of indirect request: After «попросил» (asked), «чтобы выпустили» uses «чтобы» + past-form verb to report a request/command — 'asked that it be let go.' This is the willed, non-factual «чтобы», distinct from reporting «что».

Так мы и сделали.  
So that's what we did.
> The confirming «так… и» frame: «так… и сделали» ('that's just what we did') uses «так» plus emphatic «и» to confirm an action exactly as described — a tidy, idiomatic way to close the little episode.

Сию минуту отец воротился и ему щенка меделянского принес, тоже достал откуда-то, думал этим утешить, только хуже еще, кажется, вышло…  
Just this minute his father came back and brought him a mastiff puppy, also got from somewhere, thinking to comfort him with it, only it seems to have turned out even worse…
> «сию минуту» — this very minute: «сию» is the accusative of the archaic demonstrative «сей» ('this'), surviving in fixed phrases: «сию минуту» = 'right this minute, just now.' A bookish fossil that has outlived «сей» in ordinary speech.
> Reflexive «воротиться» — to return: «воротился» is the older, slightly folksy variant of «вернуться» (to come back), carrying the reflexive «-ся». The «-ся» here marks a middle/change-of-state verb, not a true reflexive.

— Еще скажите, Карамазов: что такое этот отец? Я его знаю, но что он такое по вашему определению: шут, паяц?  
— Tell me one more thing, Karamazov: what sort of man is this father? I know him, but what is he, by your reckoning — a buffoon, a clown?
> «что такое X?» — what sort of thing is X?: «что такое этот отец» asks for the essence or character of someone ('what is this father, really?'), keeping «отец» nominative. Kolya wants a definition, a label — which his next words («шут, паяц?») supply.
> «шут» and «паяц» — buffoon and clown: «шут» is the old word for a court jester/buffoon (also «шут гороховый», a figure of fun); «паяц» is a Punch-like clown from the Italian commedia. Kolya reaches for both to ask whether the captain is merely ridiculous — the very label Alyosha will complicate.

— Ах нет, есть люди глубоко чувствующие, но как-то придавленные.  
— Ah no, there are people who feel deeply but are somehow crushed down.
> Present active participle «чувствующие»: «чувствующие» is the present active participle of «чувствовать» ('feeling, who feel'), a bookish one-word compression of a «который»-clause, agreeing with «люди» as an adjective. It is balanced against the past passive participle «придавленные» ('crushed down').

Шутовство у них вроде злобной иронии на тех, которым в глаза они не смеют сказать правды от долговременной унизительной робости пред ними.  
Their buffoonery is a kind of spiteful irony directed at those to whose faces they dare not speak the truth, out of a long-standing, humiliating timidity before them.
> Genitive of negation + relative «которым»: Under negated «не смеют сказать», the object «правды» (the truth) shifts to genitive — the genitive of negation. The relative «которым» is dative ('to whom they dare not speak'), agreeing in number with «тех» but cased by its own clause.
> Archaic «пред» for «перед»: «пред» is the contracted, elevated form of «перед» (before, in front of), governing the instrumental «ними». It lends Alyosha's diagnosis of cringing 'timidity before them' a slightly literary solemnity.

Поверьте, Красоткин, что такое шутовство чрезвычайно иногда трагично.  
Believe me, Krassotkin, that such buffoonery is sometimes extraordinarily tragic.
> Neuter short adjective «трагично» as predicate: «трагично» is the short neuter form ('is tragic'), the predicate of «шутовство» — abstract subjects naturally take neuter short adjectives. «чрезвычайно» ('extraordinarily') intensifies the claim that buffoonery can be deeply tragic.
> «шутовство» — buffoonery as a condition: An abstract noun in «-ство» built from «шут» (buffoon): not a single jest but the whole stance of playing the fool. Alyosha turns it into a tragic psychology — buffoonery as the mask of the humiliated.

У него всё теперь, всё на земле совокупилось в Илюше, и умри Илюша, он или с ума сойдет с горя, или лишит себя жизни.  
Everything for him now, everything on earth, has come together in Ilusha, and should Ilusha die, he'll either go out of his mind with grief or take his own life.
> Bare imperative «умри» as a conditional: «умри Илюша» uses an imperative form not as a command but as a vivid hypothetical — 'should Ilusha die…' — a compact conditional clause without «если». This archaic, expressive construction heightens the dread of the supposed loss.
> Reflexive «совокупиться» + locative: «совокупилось» (came together, was concentrated) is a bookish perfective reflexive; the «-ся» makes it intransitive — everything 'has gathered itself' in Ilusha. «в Илюше» is the prepositional of location.
> Reflexive pronoun «себя» — to take one's own life: «лишить себя жизни» (lit. 'deprive oneself of life') uses the full reflexive pronoun «себя» as object, distinct from the verbal «-ся». «жизни» is genitive after «лишить» ('deprive of'). The euphemism names suicide with grave restraint.

Я почти убежден в этом, когда теперь на него смотрю!  
I'm almost convinced of it when I look at him now!
> Short passive participle «убеждён» as predicate: «убежден» is the short-form past passive participle of «убедить» ('convinced'), here a predicate of state — 'I am almost convinced.' Its object of conviction follows «в» + prepositional («в этом»).

— Я вас понимаю, Карамазов, я вижу, вы знаете человека, — прибавил проникновенно Коля.  
— I understand you, Karamazov; I see that you know human nature, — Kolya added with deep feeling.
> Animate accusative «человека»: «человека» is the animate masculine accusative (borrowing the genitive ending) — but the phrase «знать человека» means 'to understand human nature, to know people,' a generalized human, not one man. Animacy is visible right in the ending.
> «проникновенно» — with heartfelt penetration: An adverb from «проникнуть» (to penetrate): speaking 'penetratingly,' from the depths of feeling, with earnest sincerity. It marks Kolya at his most genuinely moved, dropping his usual swagger.

— А я, как увидал вас с собакой, так и подумал, что вы это привели ту самую Жучку.  
"And the moment I saw you with the dog, I thought you had brought along that very Zhuchka."
> The «как… так и» correlative: «как… так и» here is temporal: 'the moment / as soon as I saw…, [then] I thought'. Both verbs are perfective past, marking two single completed events in quick succession; «так и» reinforces the immediacy of the reaction.
> Colloquial «увидал» for «увидел»: «увидал» is a folksy/colloquial past of «увидеть», common in 19th-century speech alongside the standard «увидел». The -ал- stem gives Kolya's chatter a slightly informal, breathless ring.
> «тот самый» — 'that very one': «тот самый» means 'that very, the very same'; here in the accusative feminine «ту самую» as the object of «привели». The demonstrative «тот» and intensifier «самый» both agree with «Жучку».

— Подождите, Карамазов, может быть, мы ее и отыщем, а эта — это Перезвон.  
"Wait, Karamazov, maybe we'll yet track her down, but this one — this is Perezvon."
> Polite imperative «подождите»: Perfective imperative of «подождать» (to wait a while), with the plural/polite -те Kolya uses for the elder Alyosha. The perfective frames the waiting as a single bounded request, 'wait a moment'.
> Perfective future «отыщем»: «отыщем» is the simple (perfective) future of «отыскать» — 'we will (manage to) track her down'. The particle «и» here means 'after all / even yet', and «может быть» softens it to a hope.

Я впущу ее теперь в комнату и, может быть, развеселю Илюшу побольше, чем меделянским щенком.  
"I'll let him into the room now, and perhaps I'll cheer Ilyusha up more with him than with the mastiff pup."
> Perfective future «впущу»: «впущу» — 'I will let in' — is the perfective future of «впустить», a single completed act. The whole sentence chains future intentions, each viewed as a discrete event.
> Comparative «побольше» with «чем»: «побольше» is the comparative «больше» softened by the prefix по- ('a bit more'); «чем» introduces the second term of the comparison. So: 'cheer Ilyusha up rather more… than with the mastiff pup'.
> Instrumental of means: «меделянским щенком» is instrumental — 'with/by means of the mastiff pup' — the tool by which one might cheer Ilyusha. Adjective and noun agree in the instrumental.

Подождите, Карамазов, вы кой-что сейчас узнаете.  
"Wait, Karamazov, you're about to learn a thing or two."
> «кой-что» — archaic 'something': «кой-что» is an old-fashioned variant of «кое-что» ('a thing or two, something'). The indefinite element «кой-/кое-» on «что» marks a specific-but-unspecified thing Kolya is about to reveal.
> Perfective future «узнаете»: «узнаете» — 'you will (come to) learn / find out' — perfective future of «узнать», promising a single moment of discovery. The adverb «сейчас» ('right now, in a moment') pins it to the near future.

Ах, боже мой, что ж я вас держу! — вскричал вдруг стремительно Коля. — Вы в одном сюртучке на таком холоде, а я вас задерживаю; видите, видите, какой я эгоист!  
"Oh, good heavens, why am I keeping you standing here!" Kolya cried out suddenly, all in a rush. "You're in nothing but a thin frock coat in this kind of cold, and here I am holding you up; you see, you see what an egoist I am!"
> Vocative «боже»: «боже» is the surviving Church-Slavonic vocative of «Бог» — 'O God'. Frozen into the exclamation «боже мой» ('my God, good heavens'), it is one of the most common vocatives a reader of Dostoevsky meets.
> Particle «ж» (же) of vexation: «ж» is the reduced form of the emphatic particle «же», here loading the rhetorical question with self-reproach: 'why on earth am I keeping you standing here!' It adds the speaker's exasperated attitude.
> Locative «на холоде»: «на холоде» uses на + prepositional to mean 'out in the cold'. «в одном сюртучке» means 'in just a thin frock-coat', where «один» here works as 'only, nothing but'.
> Diminutive «сюртучок»: «сюртучок» is the affectionate diminutive of «сюртук» (a frock-coat), in the prepositional «сюртучке». The diminutive underlines how thin and inadequate the coat is against the cold — pity, not size.

О, все мы эгоисты, Карамазов!  
"Oh, we are all egoists, Karamazov!"
> Zero copula in the present: 'We are all egoists' has no verb 'to be': Russian drops the present-tense copula, joining subject «мы» directly to the nominative predicate «эгоисты». The fronted «все» ('all') gives Alyosha's reply its sweeping, sententious weight.

— Не беспокойтесь; правда, холодно, но я не простудлив.  
"Don't worry; it's true, it's cold, but I don't catch cold easily."
> Negated reflexive imperative: «беспокойтесь» is the imperative of the -ся verb «беспокоиться» (to worry), with negation «не»: 'don't trouble yourself, don't worry'. The reflexive -ся (-тесь after the imperative) turns 'disturb' inward to 'be disturbed'.
> Short adjective «простудлив»: «простудлив» (from «простуда», a cold) means 'prone to catching cold'. It is a short-form predicative adjective, and the -лив- suffix denotes a disposition or tendency, as in «счастливый», «терпеливый».

Пойдемте, однако же. Кстати: как ваше имя, я знаю, что Коля, а дальше?  
"Let's go in, all the same. By the way: what is your name? I know it's Kolya, but after that?"
> Hortative «пойдёмте»: «Пойдёмте» — 'let's go' — is the first-person-plural exhortative of the perfective «пойти», with -те making it polite/inclusive of the addressee. It is a common Russian way to say 'let us…' without «давайте».
> «однако же» — 'and yet, all the same': «однако» is an adversative 'however/yet'; the appended «же» lends a mild insistence ('all the same, do let's go'). Together they signal Alyosha gently pressing on past Kolya's chatter.
> Zero-copula identity question: 'What is your name?' is literally 'how [is] your name' with no verb — «имя» stands in the nominative as the subject of an implied 'to be'. «как» rather than «что» is the idiomatic way to ask a name.

— Николай, Николай Иванов Красоткин, или, как говорят по-казенному, сын Красоткин, — чему-то засмеялся Коля, но вдруг прибавил: — Я, разумеется, ненавижу мое имя Николай.  
"Nikolai, Nikolai Ivanov Krasotkin, or, as they put it in officialese, son Krasotkin," Kolya laughed at something or other, but suddenly added: "I detest my name Nikolai, of course."
> «по-казённому» — 'in officialese': Built on «казённый» ('belonging to the state treasury, official, bureaucratic'), the adverb «по-казённому» means 'in the official/bureaucratic way'. For Kolya it is a term of contempt — everything «казённый» is dull and impersonal.
> Dative «чему-то» + reflexive «засмеялся»: «засмеяться» (perfective, with -ся) means 'to break into laughter'; the za- prefix marks the inceptive moment. «чему-то» is the dative of «что-то» ('at something'), the cause one laughs at, with indefinite -то marking it as specific-but-unnamed.
> «мой» vs reflexive «свой»: Kolya says «моё имя» ('my name'), not «своё», because here the possessor and subject are the same emphatic 'I' — «мой» is natural for marked first-person feeling. The reflexive «свой» would be used when subject and possessor coincide neutrally.

— Почему же?  
"Why is that?"
> Particle «же» pressing for a reason: «же» after «почему» turns a bare 'why?' into an insistent 'but why, then?' — Alyosha leaning in for the explanation. The particle carries the conversational push that English gives by intonation alone.

— Тривиально, казенно…  
"It's trivial, official..."
> «тривиально, казённо» — clipped predicatives: Both are neuter short-form adjectives/adverbs used as bald predicates: 'it's trivial, it's official'. «тривиально» is a fashionable Latinate word, exactly the kind of precocious vocabulary Kolya flaunts; «казённо» echoes his contempt for the bureaucratic.

— Вам тринадцатый год? — спросил Алеша.  
"Are you in your thirteenth year?" Alyosha asked.
> Dative of age + ordinal idiom: Age 'in one's Nth year' is expressed impersonally: «вам» in the dative (the person the year belongs to) plus the ordinal «тринадцатый год» as subject, copula dropped — literally 'to you [is] the thirteenth year?'. This is the standard subjectless way to ask someone's age in progress.

— То есть четырнадцатый, через две недели четырнадцать, весьма скоро.  
"That is, my fourteenth — in two weeks I'll be fourteen, very soon."
> «через» + accusative of time: «через две недели» — 'in two weeks' time' — uses через + accusative to mean 'after the lapse of'. The numeral «две» governs the genitive singular «недели» (after 2/3/4), the standard counting pattern.
> Bookish «весьма»: «весьма» ('very, exceedingly') is a markedly bookish intensifier, more formal than «очень». Kolya's fondness for such elevated words is part of Dostoevsky's affectionate portrait of a clever, self-conscious boy.

Признаюсь пред вами заранее в одной слабости, Карамазов, это уж так пред вами, для первого знакомства, чтобы вы сразу увидели всю мою натуру: я ненавижу, когда меня спрашивают про мои года, более чем ненавижу… и наконец… про меня, например, есть клевета, что я на прошлой неделе с приготовительными в разбойники играл.  
"I'll confess one weakness to you in advance, Karamazov — and I'm telling you straight off, on first acquaintance, so that you can see my whole nature at once: I hate it when people ask me about my age, hate it more than... and finally... there's a slander going round about me, for instance, that last week I was playing robbers with the kids from the preparatory class."
> Reflexive «признаюсь» + archaic «пред»: «признаюсь» is a -ся verb, 'I confess' (reflexive/middle). «пред» is the bookish, elevated variant of «перед» ('before') — period-flavoured speech, fitting Kolya's theatrical self-presentation; it governs the instrumental «вами».
> Purpose clause «чтобы» + past form: «чтобы» introduces purpose ('so that you might see…') and requires the past-form irrealis «увидели», not a present/future. This is the willed-outcome construction, distinct from factual «что».
> Impersonal 'they' / unstated subject: «спрашивают» is a 3rd-plural verb with no stated subject — the 'people / they' construction: 'when people ask me…'. «про» + accusative «мои года» means 'about', a more colloquial alternative to «о» + prepositional.
> «клевета» — slander: «клевета» means 'slander, calumny' — a deliberately weighty, almost legal word for a boy's grievance about being teased. The mismatch between the grand term and the trivial matter (playing robbers) is precisely the comedy of Kolya's pomposity.

То, что я играл, это действительность, но что я для себя играл, для доставления себе самому удовольствия, то это решительно клевета.  
"That I was playing — that's a fact, but that I was playing for myself, for my own amusement, that is decidedly a slander."
> Correlative «то, что…»: «То, что…» sets up a correlative: the neuter pronoun «то» ('the [fact] that') is the subject, unpacked by the «что»-clause. Kolya contrasts two such facts — 'that I played' (true) versus 'that I played for myself' (slander).
> Reflexive «себя» / «себе»: The reflexive pronoun «себя» points back to the subject 'I': «для себя» 'for myself', dative «себе самому» 'to my very self'. «себя» has no nominative and serves any person, here intensified by «самому» ('my own self').
> «решительно» — 'decidedly, absolutely': Here «решительно» is an emphatic adverb, 'decidedly, downright' (not 'decisively' in action). It is another of Kolya's strong, categorical words: «это решительно клевета» — 'that is downright slander'.

Я имею основание думать, что до вас это дошло, но я не для себя играл, а для детворы играл, потому что они ничего без меня не умели выдумать.  
"I have grounds to think it reached even your ears, but I wasn't playing for myself, I was playing for the little ones, because without me they couldn't think up anything at all."
> «дойти до» — 'reach' someone: «дойти до вас» literally 'to reach as far as you' uses prefixed-motion «дойти» (perfective) with до + genitive «вас». Idiomatically 'it reached you / came to your ears' — news arriving at a person.
> Negative concord «ничего… не»: Two negatives, one meaning: the ни-word «ничего» (genitive) and the verbal «не умели» both stand — 'they couldn't think up anything at all'. «без меня» (genitive after без) frames Kolya as the indispensable inventor.
> «детвора» — 'the little kids': «детвора» is a collective noun for a crowd of small children ('the kiddies, the little ones'), warmer and more informal than «дети». In genitive «детворы» after «для», it casts Kolya as benefactor of the small fry.

И вот у нас всегда вздор распустят.  
"And so it goes — among us they're forever spreading nonsense."
> Impersonal 'they' future «распустят»: «распустят» is 3rd-plural perfective future with no stated subject — the impersonal 'they spread / will spread'. Combined with «всегда» it reads as a recurrent truth: 'people are forever spreading nonsense here'.
> «вздор» — 'nonsense, rot': «вздор» is a colloquial, dismissive word for 'nonsense, twaddle'. «распустить вздор» is to 'set loose / spread' idle talk — the verb «распустить» (un-bind, let loose) vividly pictures gossip turned free.

Это город сплетен, уверяю вас.  
"This is a town of gossip, I assure you."
> Genitive plural «сплетен»: «город сплетен» — 'a town of gossip(s)' — uses the genitive plural «сплетен» (from «сплетня») as 'of'. The zero-ending genitive plural is typical of feminine -я nouns. The pointer «это» plus zero copula gives a flat, judging declaration.
> «уверяю вас» — 'I assure you': «уверять» (to assure, from «верить», to believe) governs the accusative person «вас». The phrase is a stock conversational tag of earnest insistence — Kolya forever certifying the truth of his pronouncements.

— А хоть бы и для своего удовольствия играли, что ж тут такого?  
"And even if you had been playing for your own amusement, what's so wrong with that?"
> Concessive «хоть бы» + past form: «хоть бы и… играли» is concessive-hypothetical: 'even if you had been playing'. The particle «бы» plus past-form «играли» builds the irrealis, and «хоть… и» grants the point — 'so what, even granting that'.
> Idiom «что тут такого?»: «что ж тут такого?» — 'what's so [wrong] about it?' — is a fixed dismissive idiom; «такого» is genitive after the implied negative-quantitative sense. The particle «ж» (же) gives the easy, shrugging tone of Alyosha's reassurance.

— Ну для себя… Не станете же вы в лошадки играть?  
"Well, for myself... You wouldn't go playing horsey, would you?"
> «не станете же» — incredulous future: «стать» + infinitive forms a future ('you won't [go and] play…'); negated and laced with «же», it becomes an incredulous rhetorical question: 'surely you wouldn't go playing horsey?' The particle «же» carries the appeal to shared common sense.
> Diminutive «лошадки» (playing horsey): «лошадки» is the diminutive plural of «лошадь» (horse); «играть в лошадки» is the toddlers' game of 'playing horsey'. The diminutive flags it as babyish — exactly the indignity the self-important Kolya refuses.

— А вы рассуждайте так, — улыбнулся Алеша, — в театр, например, ездят же взрослые, а в театре тоже представляют приключения всяких героев, иногда тоже с разбойниками и с войной — так разве это не то же самое, в своем, разумеется, роде?  
"But look at it this way," Alyosha smiled. "Grown-ups go to the theater, for instance, and at the theater they also act out the adventures of all sorts of heroes, sometimes with robbers and warfare too — so isn't that the very same thing, in its own way, of course?"
> Imperfective imperative «рассуждайте»: «рассуждайте» is the imperfective imperative of «рассуждать» (to reason, argue a point) — 'reason it out this way'. The imperfective invites a manner/process ('go about it like this') rather than a single completed act.
> Multidirectional «ездят» of habit: «ездят» is the multidirectional motion verb (vs unidirectional «едут»), here naming the habitual round trip: 'grown-ups [regularly] go to the theatre'. The particle «же» underlines the shared, obvious fact.
> Particle «разве» of rhetorical surprise: «разве» opens an incredulous/leading question, 'isn't it really…?'. «не то же самое» means 'not the very same thing' — note «то же» (the same) written apart, distinct from the conjunction «тоже» (also).
> Reflexive possessive «свой»: «в своём роде» — 'in its own way/kind' — is a set phrase using the reflexive possessive «свой», which always refers back to the clause's own subject. Here it means 'each in its own genre'.

А игра в войну у молодых людей, в рекреационное время, или там в разбойники — это ведь тоже зарождающееся искусство, зарождающаяся потребность искусства в юной душе, и эти игры иногда даже сочиняются складнее, чем представления на театре, только в том разница, что в театр ездят смотреть актеров, а тут молодежь сами актеры.  
"And playing at war among the young, in their recreation time, or there, playing robbers — that, after all, is also a budding art, a budding need for art in a young soul, and these games are sometimes even composed more cleverly than the performances at the theater; the only difference is that at the theater people go to watch actors, whereas here the youngsters are themselves the actors."
> Present active participle «зарождающееся»: «зарождающийся» is a present active participle from the -ся verb «зарождаться» (to be born, take its rise) — 'a budding / nascent [art]'. It declines and agrees like an adjective (neuter «-ееся», feminine «-аяся»), condensing 'art that is coming to birth' into one bookish word.
> Passive -ся + comparative «складнее»: «сочиняются» is the imperfective -ся passive: 'are composed / get composed'. «складнее» is the predicative comparative of «складный» ('well-put-together, coherent') — 'more cleverly composed'.
> Correlative «в том… что»: «только в том разница, что…» — 'the only difference lies in this, that…' — uses the demonstrative «том» (prepositional) as a cataphoric pointer resolved by the «что»-clause. A neat, formal way to frame a contrast.
> «рекреация» — school recreation time: «рекреационное время» / «рекреация» was gymnasium jargon for the break between lessons (Latin recreatio). Kolya's Latinate school-vocabulary is itself characterisation — the bright boy parading his learning.

Но это только естественно.  
"But that is only natural."
> Neuter predicative «естественно»: «естественно» here is a neuter short-form/adverbial predicate, 'it is only natural', with the subject «это» and no copula. Such impersonal '[it is] X' statements are the natural Russian shape for value judgements.

— Вы так думаете? Таково ваше убеждение? — пристально смотрел на него Коля. — Знаете, вы довольно любопытную мысль сказали; я теперь приду домой и шевельну мозгами на этот счет.  
"You think so? That's your conviction?" Kolya gazed at him intently. "You know, you've said a rather curious thing; now I'll go home and rack my brains over it."
> Short demonstrative «таково»: «таково» is the short neuter of «таков» ('such, of that nature'), agreeing with «убеждение» — literally 'such [is] your conviction?'. The short «таков» is a bookish predicate, lending Kolya's question a weighty, almost forensic ring.
> Imperfective «смотрел» of sustained gaze: «смотрел» (imperfective past) presents the gazing as an ongoing process — 'kept looking intently at him' — the durative backdrop against which Kolya's speech unfolds. «на него» is на + accusative for the target of a look.
> Chained perfective futures: «приду» and «шевельну» are both perfective futures ('I'll come home and rack my brains'), two single completed acts in sequence. «приду» is prefixed-motion (прийти), «шевельну» governs the instrumental «мозгами» ('stir [with] my brains').

Признаюсь, я так и ждал, что от вас можно кой-чему поучиться. Я пришел у вас учиться, Карамазов, — проникновенным и экспансивным голосом заключил Коля.  
"I confess, I just knew there was something to be learned from you. I've come to learn from you, Karamazov," Kolya concluded in a heartfelt and effusive voice.
> Impersonal «можно» + dative object «кой-чему»: «можно… поучиться» is the impersonal 'one can learn a little'; «поучиться» (with по- 'a bit' and -ся) governs the dative «кой-чему» ('at a thing or two') — the dative of the thing one learns. «так и ждал» = 'I just expected, sure enough'.
> «учиться у» + genitive: «учиться у вас» — 'to learn from you' — uses the -ся verb «учиться» with у + genitive «вас» to name the source/teacher. The construction literally locates the learning 'at' the person from whom one learns.
> «проникновенный» / «экспансивный»: «проникновенный» means 'heartfelt, penetrating, earnest'; «экспансивный» (a borrowing) 'effusive, demonstrative'. Both stand in the instrumental of manner («голосом», 'in a voice'), the narrator gently smiling at Kolya's overflowing sincerity.

— А я у вас, — улыбнулся Алеша, пожав ему руку.  
"And I from you," Alyosha smiled, pressing his hand.
> Elliptical reply with «у вас»: Alyosha echoes Kolya by ellipsis: «А я у вас [учиться пришёл]» — 'And I [have come to learn] from you'. The contrastive «а» ('and/whereas') turns the words back, and «у вас» again marks the source of learning.
> Perfective gerund «пожав»: «пожав» is the perfective past gerund (деепричастие) of «пожать» — 'having pressed / shaking his hand'. It names a single completed accompanying act, sharing Alyosha's subject, and «ему» is the dative of the person whose hand is pressed.

Коля был чрезвычайно доволен Алешей.  
Kolya was extraordinarily pleased with Alyosha.
> Short adjective «доволен» + instrumental: «доволен» is the short-form predicative of «довольный» ('pleased, satisfied'); it governs the instrumental «Алёшей» — 'pleased with Alyosha'. Russian regularly construes the cause of satisfaction in the instrumental.

Его поразило то, что с ним он в высшей степени на ровной ноге и что тот говорит с ним как с «самым большим».  
What struck him was that the man treated him as a complete equal, and that he spoke to him as he would to someone "quite grown up."
> Accusative experiencer «его поразило»: «его поразило» — 'it struck him' — has the neuter verb «поразило» with the cataphoric subject «то» ('the [fact] that…'), and «его» as the accusative person affected. The 'thing that struck' is then unpacked by the «что»-clause.
> Idiom «на ровной ноге»: «быть на ровной ноге с кем» is an idiom, 'to be on an equal footing with someone'; «ровной» (instrumental-of-state phrase governed by на + prepositional «ноге») literally 'on an even foot'. Kolya marvels that Alyosha treats him fully as an equal.
> Comparative-as-superlative «самым большим»: «самый большой» builds the superlative ('the biggest, grown-up-est'), here in instrumental «самым большим» after с ('as with the very biggest'). The childish phrase, set in quotation marks, renders how Kolya himself thinks of being treated 'like a really big boy'.

— Я вам сейчас один фортель покажу, Карамазов, тоже одно театральное представление, — нервно засмеялся он, — я с тем и пришел.  
"I'm going to show you a trick now, Karamazov, also a kind of theatrical performance," he laughed nervously, "that's just what I came for."
> Perfective future «покажу»: «покажу» — 'I'll show' — is the perfective future of «показать», a single promised act. «вам» is the dative recipient, «фортель» the accusative object: 'I'll show you a trick'.
> «фортель» — a stunt, a clever trick: «фортель» (from German Vorteil, 'advantage') is a slangy word for an unexpected trick or stunt. Kolya's use of this raffish term, twice in the passage, fits his pose as a worldly showman.
> Idiom «с тем и пришёл»: «я с тем и пришёл» — 'that's the very thing I came for'. «с тем» is с + instrumental of «то» ('with that [purpose]'), and the particle «и» means 'precisely/just'. A compact way to state one's motive.

— Зайдем сначала налево к хозяевам, там все ваши свои пальто оставляют, потому что в комнате тесно и жарко.  
"Let's go in to the left first, to the landlords' part — that's where your people all leave their coats, because the room is cramped and stuffy."
> Hortative «зайдём»: «Зайдём» is the 1st-plural perfective ('let's drop in'), the bare future used as a 'let's…' exhortation. «зайти» is prefixed-motion (за- 'call in on the way'), so it means stopping by en route, not a destination.
> Reflexive possessive «свои»: «свои пальто» — 'their own coats' — uses the reflexive possessive «свой», pointing back to the subject «все ваши» ('all your people'). Note «пальто» is an indeclinable neuter borrowing, unchanged in the plural object.

— О, ведь я на мгновение, я войду и просижу в пальто.  
"Oh, I'm only here a moment; I'll go in and sit in my coat."
> Particle «ведь» appealing to the obvious: «ведь» appeals to shared knowledge — 'but I'm only here a moment, you see / after all'. It softens Alyosha's refusal to undress, taking it as something Kolya already understands.
> Chained perfective futures «войду… просижу»: «войду» ('I'll go in', prefixed-motion войти) and «просижу» ('I'll sit out [the time]') are perfective futures. The про- in «просидеть» marks duration spent through — 'I'll sit there [a while] in my coat'.

Перезвон останется здесь в сенях и умрет: «Иси, Перезвон, куш и умри!» — видите, он и умер.  
"Perezvon will stay out here in the entryway and play dead: 'Ici, Perezvon, down and die!' — see, there, he's dead."
> Perfective futures «останется… умрёт»: «останется» ('will stay') and «умрёт» ('will die [= play dead]') are perfective futures describing the dog's commanded acts as single events. The future tense here doubles as a confident prediction of the trick's outcome.
> «сени» — the entry passage: «сени» (plural only, here prepositional «в сенях») is the cold entrance passage or vestibule of a traditional Russian house, between the door and the heated rooms — exactly where a dog would be left to wait.
> Singular imperatives «куш… умри»: «умри» is the familiar singular imperative of «умереть» ('die!'), with the stressed -и ending; «куш» mimics a clipped command. Addressing the dog with the singular (ты-)imperative contrasts with the polite -те Kolya gives Alyosha.

А я сначала войду, высмотрю обстановку и потом, когда надо будет, свистну: «Иси, Перезвон!» — и вы увидите, он тотчас же влетит как угорелый.  
"And I'll go in first, scout out the lay of the land, and then, when the moment's right, I'll whistle: 'Ici, Perezvon!' — and you'll see, he'll come flying in instantly like a thing possessed."
> Sequence of perfective futures: Three perfective futures in a row — «войду», «высмотрю», «свистну» — stage the plan as discrete steps: 'I'll go in, scout it out, and then whistle'. The perfective is the natural aspect for a numbered sequence of completed acts.
> Impersonal «надо будет»: «надо будет» is the future of the impersonal necessity word «надо» ('it will be necessary'), with no subject — 'when it's needed / when the moment's right'. Such subjectless necessity phrases are pervasive in Russian.
> «тотчас же» + perfective «влетит»: «влетит» ('will come flying in', prefixed-motion влететь) is a vivid perfective future; «тотчас же» ('that very instant') with intensifying «же» stresses the immediacy. The image is the dog bursting in the moment it's whistled for.
> Idiom «как угорелый»: «как угорелый» (literally 'like one overcome by charcoal fumes/угар') means 'like mad, headlong, like a thing possessed'. A lively colloquial simile for the dog's frantic dash into the room.

Только надо, чтобы Смуров не забыл отворить в то мгновение дверь.  
"Only Smurov mustn't forget to open the door at that very moment."
> «надо, чтобы» + past-form irrealis: Impersonal «надо» ('it's necessary') takes a «чтобы»-clause of willed outcome, and «чтобы» forces the past-form «не забыл» ('that Smurov not forget'). This is the standard frame for 'X must happen / someone must do Y'.
> «отворить» — to open (a door): «отворить» is the slightly old-fashioned, literary verb for opening a door or gate (vs the everyday «открыть»). Its non-reflexive form takes a door as object; the -ся form «отвориться» means a door opening of itself.

Уж я распоряжусь, и вы увидите фортель…  
"I'll see to it, and you'll see the trick..."
> Emphatic particle «уж» + reflexive future: «уж» (a reduced «уже», here purely emphatic) gives a confident, reassuring stress: 'I'll see to it, never fear'. «распоряжусь» is the perfective future of the -ся verb «распорядиться» ('to give orders, arrange'), a single decisive act.
> Perfective future «увидите»: «увидите» — 'you'll see' — perfective future of «увидеть», promising a single moment of beholding. It closes Kolya's build-up with the showman's classic assurance: 'and you'll see the trick'.
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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.