# The Brothers Karamazov, At Grushenka's

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book XI — Ivan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b11-c1. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b11-c1.json.


Алеша направился к Соборной площади, в дом купчихи Морозовой, к Грушеньке.  
Alyosha set off toward Cathedral Square, to the house of the merchant's widow Morozova, to Grushenka.
> Prefixed motion verb + dative goal: «Направился» is the perfective reflexive of «направиться» («to set out, head for»). The goal takes «к» + dative («к Соборной площади»), the standard way to name the direction of motion toward a place or person; note the chain of «к»-phrases all in the dative.
> «Купчиха» — the merchant's wife/widow: «Купчиха» is the feminine of «купец» (merchant), here meaning the merchant's widow Morozova. The merchant estate («купечество») was its own legal caste below the gentry; a wealthy «купчиха» landlady places Grushenka's lodgings in a solidly provincial-bourgeois world.

Та еще рано утром присылала к нему Феню с настоятельною просьбой зайти к ней.  
Early that morning she had sent Fenya around to him with an urgent request that he come to her.
> «Та» as anaphoric demonstrative: The sentence opens with the bare demonstrative «Та» («that one» = Grushenka), the distal «тот» used to pick up a referent just mentioned. Russian routinely fronts «тот/та» this way to track who is meant, a device that lets word order stay free.
> Imperfective «присылала» for a single past act: «Присылала» is imperfective past — the imperfective here records the bare fact that she had sent (Fenya), the action viewed as background rather than as a sharply completed event. The perfective «прислала» would foreground the result.
> Archaic instrumental ending -ою: «Настоятельною» shows the older, bookish feminine instrumental singular ending -ою (modern -ой), a period flavor frequent in Dostoevsky; the whole phrase «с… просьбой» is instrumental of accompaniment after «с».

Опросив Феню, Алеша узнал, что барыня в какой-то большой и особливой тревоге еще со вчерашнего дня.  
Having questioned Fenya, Alyosha learned that the mistress had been in some great and particular agitation ever since the day before.
> Perfective gerund (деепричастие): Опросив ("having questioned") is a perfective adverbial participle formed from опросить. It marks an action completed just before the main verb: Alyosha first questioned Fenya, then learned. Russian uses these -в/-вши gerunds where English often uses "having done" or simply "-ing."
> «Барыня» — the mistress: «Барыня» is the lady of the house, the mistress, the feminine of «барин». In servants' mouths (Fenya's) it is the ordinary respectful word for one's employer; it recurs throughout the chapter for Grushenka.
> «Особливый» — archaic for «особенный»: «Особливый» («special, particular») is an old-fashioned doublet of «особенный», already dated in Dostoevsky's day. It lends the narrator's report a slightly antique, folk coloring.

Во все эти два месяца после ареста Мити Алеша часто захаживал в дом Морозовой и по собственному побуждению, и по поручениям Мити.  
Throughout these two months since Mitya's arrest, Alyosha had often dropped in at the Morozova house, both on his own impulse and on errands from Mitya.
> Iterative «захаживал» — used to drop in: «Захаживал» is an iterative imperfective (built on the multidirectional «ходить») marking repeated, occasional visits — "would drop in now and then." The -жив- vowel and the prefix «за-» together give the casual, habitual sense English carries with "used to drop in."
> «По» + dative: motive and errand: The paired «по»-phrases both take the dative: «по собственному побуждению» (on his own impulse) and «по поручениям Мити» (on Mitya's errands). «По» + dative regularly expresses the grounds or occasion of an action.

Дня три после ареста Мити Грушенька сильно заболела и хворала чуть не пять недель.  
Some three days after Mitya's arrest Grushenka had fallen seriously ill and stayed sick for nearly five weeks.
> Aspect contrast: «заболела» vs «хворала»: The two verbs split the event by aspect: perfective «заболела» («fell ill») names the single onset, while imperfective «хворала» («was sick») stretches the resulting state over "nearly five weeks." This is the classic perfective-event / imperfective-duration pairing.
> «Хворать» — to be poorly: «Хворать» is a homely, slightly folk word for being ill, softer and more colloquial than «болеть». It suits the domestic register of this household scene.
> Inverted numeral = approximation: Putting the noun before the numeral — «дня три» instead of «три дня» — signals approximation: "some three days, about three days." The genitive singular «дня» after «три» is the regular case after 2–4.

Одну неделю из этих пяти пролежала без памяти.  
One of those five weeks she lay unconscious.
> Accusative of duration; topicalized object first: «Одну неделю» is an accusative of duration ("for one week"), and fronting it before the verb makes it the topic — "as for one of those five weeks…" The subject (Grushenka) is dropped, recoverable from the feminine «-ла».
> «Без памяти» — unconscious: The fixed phrase «без памяти» (literally "without memory/consciousness") means insensible, unconscious. The genitive «памяти» is governed by «без», which always takes the genitive.

Она сильно изменилась в лице, похудела и пожелтела, хотя вот уже почти две недели как могла выходить со двора.  
Her face had changed a great deal; she had grown thin and sallow, though for almost two weeks now she had been able to go out of doors.
> Inceptive «по-» perfectives: Both verbs carry the prefix «по-» marking a completed change of state: «похудела» (grew thin), «пожелтела» (turned sallow). The perfective sums up the whole alteration in her appearance as an accomplished result.
> «…как» clause of elapsed time: The construction «вот уже… две недели, как…» means "it's now been almost two weeks since…"; «как» here introduces the point from which the time is counted. «Могла выходить» is imperfective, marking an ongoing ability over that span.

Но, на взгляд Алеши, лицо ее стало как бы еще привлекательнее, и он любил, входя к ней, встречать ее взгляд.  
But to Alyosha's eye her face had become, if anything, even more appealing, and he loved meeting her gaze whenever he came in to her.
> Comparative + «стало»: «Привлекательнее» is the predicative comparative ("more appealing") of «привлекательный», and «стало» (became) governs it. «Как бы» ("as it were") and «еще» ("even") hedge and intensify the comparison together.
> Imperfective gerund «входя»: «Входя» is the present (imperfective) adverbial participle of «входить», marking an action simultaneous with the main verb: "on coming in / as he came in." It shares the subject of «он любил».

Что-то как бы укрепилось в ее взгляде твердое и осмысленное.  
Something had as it were grown firm and thoughtful in her look.
> Reflexive «-ся» = change of state: «Укрепилось» (from «укрепиться») uses the reflexive «-ся» to make the verb intransitive — something "grew firm / strengthened itself" rather than being firmed by an outside agent. This middle, change-of-state «-ся» is everywhere in descriptions of inner life.
> Split «что-то» with trailing adjectives: The indefinite «что-то» ("something," specific but unnamed) is the neuter subject, and its modifiers «твердое и осмысленное» are stranded after the verb for effect — the firmness and thoughtfulness arrive as the new, weighted information at the sentence's end.

Сказывался некоторый переворот духовный, являлась какая-то неизменная, смиренная, но благая и бесповоротная решимость.  
A certain spiritual upheaval made itself felt; there appeared in her some unchanging, humble, yet good and irrevocable resolve.
> Reflexive verbs of appearing, subject postposed: Both clauses lead with a reflexive verb of "manifesting" — «сказывался» (made itself felt) and «являлась» (appeared) — with the real subject («переворот», «решимость») following. The «-ся» gives a middle, self-emerging sense, and the inversion lets each new thing emerge after its verb.
> «Переворот духовный» — a spiritual upheaval: «Переворот» is literally an overturning, a revolution; «переворот духовный» (with the bookish postposed adjective) names an inner, spiritual turning-point. The word marks one of Dostoevsky's signature crises-of-soul.
> «Бесповоротный» — irrevocable: «Бесповоротный» ("irreversible, irrevocable") is built on «поворот» (a turning) with «без-» + «-ный»: a resolve from which there is no turning back. It crowns the list of adjectives weighing Grushenka's new firmness.

Между бровями на лбу появилась небольшая вертикальная морщинка, придававшая милому лицу ее вид сосредоточенной в себе задумчивости, почти даже суровой на первый взгляд.  
Between her brows, on her forehead, a small vertical crease had appeared, lending her dear face an air of inward, concentrated pensiveness, almost severe at first glance.
> Past active participle modifying «морщинка»: «Придававшая» is a past active participle (from imperfective «придавать»), agreeing with the feminine «морщинка» ("the crease which lent…"). Such participles compress a «который»-clause into one bookish modifier and govern their own objects here («лицу… вид»).
> Diminutive «морщинка»: «Морщинка» is the diminutive of «морщина» (wrinkle) — a small, fine crease. The tender suffix matches «милому лицу» (her dear face), softening a mark that would otherwise read as ageing.

Прежней, например, ветрености не осталось и следа.  
Of her former flightiness, for instance, not a trace remained.
> Genitive of negation in an existential: The negated existential «не осталось» forces its subject into the genitive: «следа» («not a trace remained»), and «ветрености» too stands in the genitive ("of her flightiness"). The whole frame «не осталось и следа» is an idiom of total absence — note the emphatic «и» ("not even a trace").
> «Ветреность» — flightiness: «Ветреность», from «ветер» (wind), is fickleness, frivolity, a flighty giddiness — literally being "windy" of character. It names exactly the old Grushenka the narrator says has vanished.

Странно было для Алеши и то, что, несмотря на всё несчастие, постигшее бедную женщину, невесту жениха, арестованного по страшному преступлению, почти в тот самый миг, когда она стала его невестой, несмотря потом на болезнь и на угрожающее впереди почти неминуемое решение суда, Грушенька все-таки не потеряла прежней своей молодой веселости.  
It struck Alyosha as strange, too, that despite the whole misfortune that had befallen the poor woman — the bride of a fiancé arrested for a terrible crime almost at the very instant she became his bride — and despite, afterward, the illness, and the almost inevitable verdict of the court looming ahead, Grushenka had nonetheless not lost her old youthful cheerfulness.
> «Несмотря на» + accusative, twice: The sentence is built on a doubled concessive «несмотря на…» ("despite"), each governing the accusative («всё несчастие», «болезнь»). The repetition piles up the calamities before the main clause's «не потеряла» finally lands.
> Stacked participles: Two past active participles do the syntactic heavy lifting: «постигшее» (which had befallen, agreeing with «несчастие») and «арестованного» (a past passive participle, "arrested," agreeing with «жениха»). Such dense participial chains are the engine of 19th-century literary syntax.
> «Все-таки не потеряла» — the long-delayed main verb: After all the concessive scaffolding, the main clause is the perfective negated «не потеряла» ("did not lose"), reinforced by «все-таки» ("nonetheless, all the same"). Russian readily holds the finite verb to the very end of a heavily subordinated period.

В гордых прежде глазах ее засияла теперь какая-то тихость, хотя… хотя, впрочем, глаза эти изредка опять-таки пламенели некоторым зловещим огоньком, когда ее посещала одна прежняя забота, не только не заглохнувшая, но даже и увеличившаяся в ее сердце.  
In her eyes, once so proud, there now shone a kind of quietness, although… although, to be sure, those eyes would still flare up now and then with a certain ominous little flame whenever one old worry came over her — a worry that, far from having died down, had even grown larger in her heart.
> Locative-first inversion: The sentence opens with the prepositional locative «В… глазах» and ends with the postposed subject «какая-то тихость» — the new thing ("a kind of quietness") emerges last, after its verb «засияла» (shone forth). «Гордых прежде» ("once proud") is an embedded adjective + adverb.
> Contrastive past active participles: Two past active participles in apposition to «забота» weigh the worry: negated «не заглохнувшая» ("not having died down") set against «увеличившаяся» ("having grown larger"). The «-ся» on the latter is the change-of-state reflexive; «не только… но даже и» braces the antithesis.
> Diminutive «огонёк» in the instrumental: «Огоньком» is the instrumental of «огонёк», the diminutive of «огонь» (fire) — a "little flame." The instrumental tells us how the eyes flared («пламенели… огоньком»); the diminutive makes the ominous gleam small and intermittent.

Предмет этой заботы был всё тот же: Катерина Ивановна, о которой Грушенька, когда еще лежала больная, поминала даже в бреду.  
The object of that worry was always the same: Katerina Ivanovna, of whom Grushenka, while she was still lying ill, had even spoken in her delirium.
> Relative «которой» in the prepositional: «О которой» is the relative pronoun «который» agreeing with the feminine antecedent «Катерина Ивановна» but taking the prepositional case its own clause demands after «о» ("of/about whom"). The clause is set off by commas, as Russian relative clauses always are.
> «В бреду» — in delirium: «Бред» is feverish raving, delirium; the fixed locative «в бреду» (with the stressed -у́ ending) means "in her delirium." That Grushenka named Katerina Ivanovna even while raving measures the depth of the obsession.

Алеша понимал, что она страшно ревнует к ней Митю, арестанта Митю, несмотря на то, что Катерина Ивановна ни разу не посетила того в заключении, хотя бы и могла это сделать когда угодно.  
Alyosha understood that she was fiercely jealous over her of Mitya — Mitya the prisoner — despite the fact that Katerina Ivanovna had not once visited him in confinement, though she might have done so whenever she pleased.
> «Ревновать кого к кому» — the grammar of jealousy: «Ревновать» frames jealousy with the loved one as direct object («Митю», accusative) and the rival marked by «к» + dative («к ней»): she is jealous of Mitya, with Katerina Ivanovna as the threat. English inverts the relation, which is why our "jealous over her of Mitya" reads oddly.
> Negative concord: «ни разу… не»: «Ни разу… не посетила» pairs the intensifier «ни» ("not a single time") with the obligatory verbal «не»: Russian requires both, the double negative carrying one emphatic meaning, "not once did she visit."
> Concessive «хотя бы» with conditional «бы»: «Хотя бы… могла» uses the irrealis particle «бы» with the past-form «могла» to set up a counterfactual concession — "though she might well have done so." «Когда угодно» ("whenever she pleased") is a free-choice indefinite.

Всё это обратилось для Алеши в некоторую трудную задачу, ибо Грушенька только одному ему доверяла свое сердце и беспрерывно просила у него советов; он же иногда совсем ничего не в силах был ей сказать.  
All this had become for Alyosha something of a hard problem, for Grushenka confided her heart to him alone and ceaselessly begged him for advice; while he, at times, was utterly unable to say anything to her at all.
> «Ибо» — bookish 'for, because': «Ибо» is the archaic, elevated conjunction "for, because," a Church-Slavonic-flavored alternative to «потому что» that Dostoevsky's narrator favors. It lifts the register a notch above ordinary speech.
> Contrastive «же» and negative concord: The particle «же» here is adversative — "he, for his part / whereas he" — pivoting from Grushenka to Alyosha. «Совсем ничего… не» stacks negators («ничего» + «не») for emphatic negative concord: he was "utterly unable to say anything at all."
> Dative «одному ему» — to him alone: «Доверяла… сердце» (confided her heart) takes its indirect object in the dative, «одному ему» ("to him alone"), with «одному» agreeing with «ему». The fronting and «один» together carry the exclusivity.

Озабоченно вступил он в ее квартиру.  
Full of care, he stepped into her apartment.
> Adverb-first inversion for mood: Fronting the adverb «озабоченно» ("full of care, anxiously") and then inverting subject and verb («вступил он») throws the emotional manner into relief — the sentence's news is how he entered, not that he did.

Она была уже дома; с полчаса как воротилась от Мити, и уже по тому быстрому движению, с которым она вскочила с кресел из-за стола к нему навстречу, он заключил, что ждала она его с большим нетерпением.  
She was already home; she had come back from Mitya about half an hour earlier, and from the very quickness of the movement with which she sprang up from her chair at the table to meet him, he concluded that she had been awaiting him with great impatience.
> «С полчаса» — approximative + elapsed-time «как»: «С полчаса» («about half an hour») uses «с» + accusative to mark an approximate quantity, and «как воротилась» counts time from that point — "it was half an hour since she'd come back." «Воротилась» is an older variant of «возвратилась».
> «По» + dative of evidence: «По тому быстрому движению» is «по» + dative meaning "by/from that quick movement" — the basis on which he inferred. «С которым она вскочила» is a relative clause whose «которым» is instrumental, the manner of springing up.
> Imperfective «ждала» of expectation: «Ждала» is imperfective past — waiting/expecting is inherently a process, so it resists the perfective. The inversion «ждала она его» places the verb of waiting first as the new information he concluded.

На столе лежали карты и была сдана игра в дурачки.  
Cards lay on the table, and a hand of "fools" had been dealt.
> Past passive participle (short form) + «была»: «Была сдана» is a periphrastic passive: the short-form past passive participle «сдана» (from perfective «сдать», to deal) plus «была» — "a game had been dealt." The short participle agrees in gender/number with «игра» and states a result.

На кожаном диване с другой стороны стола была постлана постель, и на ней полулежал, в халате и в бумажном колпаке, Максимов, видимо больной и ослабевший, хотя и сладко улыбавшийся.  
On the leather sofa on the other side of the table a bed had been made up, and on it, half reclining in a dressing gown and a cotton nightcap, lay Maximov, plainly sick and feeble, though sweetly smiling.
> Passive «была постлана» + inverted subject: Another short-form passive: «была постлана постель» ("a bed had been made up"), participle from «постлать». The subject «постель» follows its verb, the standard inversion when introducing a new entity into the scene.
> Instrumental-less attire via «в» + prepositional: Clothing worn is expressed with «в» + prepositional: «в халате и в бумажном колпаке» ("in a dressing gown and a cotton nightcap"). The verb «полулежал» ("half-lay") shows the productive prefix «полу-» (half-).
> «Бумажный колпак» — a cotton nightcap: Here «бумажный» does not mean "of paper" but "of cotton" — an older sense (from «бумага» once denoting cotton wool); a «колпак» is a soft conical nightcap. The detail paints Maximov as a quaint, old-fashioned invalid.

Этот бездомный старичок, как воротился тогда, еще месяца два тому, с Грушенькой из Мокрого, так и остался у ней и при ней с тех пор неотлучно.  
This homeless little old man, ever since he had come back that time — some two months ago now — with Grushenka from Mokroye, had simply stayed on with her and at her side, never once leaving.
> Diminutive «старичок»: «Старичок» is the affectionate diminutive of «старик» (old man) — a "dear/little old man," carrying pity and gentle warmth rather than size. The narrator's tone toward the pathetic Maximov is set by this suffix.
> Correlative «как… так и» of time: The «как…, так и…» frame here is temporal-emphatic: "the moment he came back…, he just stayed on." «Воротился» (perfective) marks the single return; «остался» the resulting fixed state, reinforced by «неотлучно» (never leaving).

Приехав тогда с ней в дождь и слякоть, он, промокший и испуганный, сел на диван и уставился на нее молча, с робкою просящею улыбкой.  
Having arrived with her then in rain and slush, he had sat down on the sofa, soaked and frightened, and fixed his eyes on her in silence, with a timid, pleading smile.
> Perfective gerund «приехав»: «Приехав» ("having arrived") is the perfective gerund of «приехать», marking the completed action prior to the main verbs «сел» and «уставился». It shares the subject «он» (Maximov), as every деепричастие must.
> Participles as predicate adjectives: «Промокший» (past active participle, "having gotten soaked") and «испуганный» (past passive participle, "frightened") describe the subject's state during the action — agreeing with «он» in the nominative, hanging loosely as he sat down.
> «Слякоть» — slush, foul weather: «Слякоть» is slush, mire, the muddy wet of a Russian thaw or autumn rain. Paired with «дождь», it evokes the cold misery of Maximov's arrival.

Грушенька, бывшая в страшном горе и уже в начинавшейся лихорадке, почти забывшая о нем в первые полчаса по приезде за разными хлопотами, — вдруг как-то пристально посмотрела на него: он жалко и потерянно хихикнул ей в глаза.  
Grushenka, who was in terrible grief and already in the onset of a fever, having nearly forgotten about him in the first half hour after their arrival amid all the bustle, suddenly looked at him somehow intently: he gave a pitiful, lost little snicker into her face.
> Chain of past active participles describing Grushenka: Three participial phrases stack onto «Грушенька»: «бывшая в… горе» (who was in grief), «начинавшейся лихорадке» (an onsetting fever), and «забывшая о нем» (having forgotten him). This pile-up suspends the subject across a long parenthesis before the dash and the main verb «посмотрела».
> Perfective verbs of single glance and laugh: «Посмотрела» (looked) and «хихикнул» (gave a snicker) are both perfective, each a single bounded act; the suffix «-ну-» in «хихикнул» marks a one-off, momentary action ("gave one little snicker").
> «Хихикнуть» — to snicker: «Хихикать/хихикнуть» is to giggle or snicker, a thin, nervous, slightly absurd laugh. The semelfactive «-ну-» gives the single "pitiful, lost little snicker" of the cowering old man.

Она кликнула Феню и велела дать ему покушать.  
She called Fenya and ordered that he be given something to eat.
> «Велеть» + dative + infinitive: «Велела… дать» ("ordered that he be given") is the impersonal-command pattern: «велеть» takes an infinitive, and the person fed stands in the dative «ему». «Покушать» is a polite/homely perfective for "to eat a little."
> «Покушать» — to have a bite: «Кушать» (and its perfective «покушать») is a soft, hospitable word for eating, used especially in inviting or caring for someone. It suits Grushenka's order to feed the bedraggled old man.

Весь этот день он просидел на своем месте, почти не шелохнувшись; когда же стемнело и заперли ставни, Феня спросила барыню:  
All that day he sat in his place, scarcely stirring; and when it grew dark and the shutters were closed, Fenya asked her mistress:
> Negated gerund «не шелохнувшись»: «Не шелохнувшись» is a perfective gerund (from «шелохнуться», to stir) negated by «не» — "without stirring / scarcely having stirred." Russian regularly uses a negated деепричастие where English says "without doing."
> Impersonal «стемнело» and subjectless «заперли»: «Стемнело» ("it grew dark") is a subjectless impersonal verb of natural process. «Заперли ставни» is an indefinite-personal third-plural with no stated subject — "the shutters were closed [by someone]." Both are common Russian ways to report events without naming an agent.

— Что ж, барыня, разве они ночевать останутся?  
"Well, mistress, are they really going to stay the night?"
> Particle «разве» of surprised doubt: «Разве» introduces a question colored with surprise or disbelief — "are they really going to…?" Note that Fenya uses the plural «они… останутся» of the single old man: a deferential plural (like English "are they staying?") for a person she half-respects, half-puzzles over.

— Да, постели ему на диване, — ответила Грушенька.  
"Yes, make him up a bed on the sofa," Grushenka answered.
> Imperative «постели» + dative recipient: «Постели» is the imperative of «постлать» (to make up a bed), and «ему» is the dative of benefit — "make up a bed for him." The «-и» imperative ending follows a consonant-final stressed stem.

Опросив его подробнее, Грушенька узнала от него, что действительно ему как раз теперь некуда деться совсем и что «господин Калганов, благодетель мой, прямо мне заявили-с, что более меня уж не примут, и пять рублей подарили».  
Questioning him more closely, Grushenka learned from him that he really and truly had nowhere at all to go just now, and that "Mr. Kalganov, my benefactor, told me straight out, sir, that he would not take me in any longer, and made me a present of five rubles."
> Perfective gerund «опросив»: As in s3, «опросив» ("having questioned") is a perfective gerund prior to the main verb «узнала». «Подробнее» is the comparative adverb "more closely / in more detail."
> «Некуда» — the «не-» negative adverb of place: «Некуда деться» means "nowhere to go / take oneself," using the stressed negative adverb «некуда» with an infinitive — the impersonal "there is nowhere to…" pattern (the experiencer would stand in the dative). «Деться» is the reflexive "to get to, betake oneself."
> Servile «-с» and respectful plural: Maximov reports Kalganov's words with the slovoers «-с» («заявили-с») — the worn-down «сударь» tacked on for fawning politeness — and uses the deferential plural «заявили… подарили» of his single benefactor. Both mark his cringing, dependent register.

«Ну, бог с тобой, оставайся уж», — решила в тоске Грушенька, сострадательно ему улыбнувшись.  
"Well, God be with you, stay on, then," Grushenka decided in her anguish, smiling at him compassionately.
> «Бог с тобой» — a resigned blessing: «Бог с тобой» (literally "God [be] with you") here is a softly resigned "oh, all right then, very well" — a phrase of indulgent giving-in rather than literal blessing. Grushenka uses it «в тоске» (in anguish) as she lets the old man stay.
> Imperative + softening particle «уж»: «Оставайся» is the imperfective imperative "stay on," and «уж» is a resigned, concessive particle — "stay on, then / I suppose." «Улыбнувшись» that follows is a perfective gerund of attendant smiling.

Старика передернуло от ее улыбки, и губы его задрожали от благодарного плача.  
The old man flinched at her smile, and his lips trembled with grateful weeping.
> Impersonal with accusative experiencer: «Старика передернуло» is a vivid impersonal construction: the verb is neuter-impersonal «передернуло» ("a shudder ran through") and the person affected stands in the accusative «старика». Such subjectless verbs of involuntary bodily reaction are a Russian specialty.

Так с тех пор и остался у ней скитающийся приживальщик.  
And so from that time on the wandering sponger stayed on with her.
> «Приживальщик» — the hanger-on: «Приживальщик» (also «приживальщик/приживал») is a hanger-on, a poor dependent who "lives off" («приживаться») a wealthier household — fed and housed in exchange for amusement and deference. It pins Maximov's exact social type, a stock figure of the period.
> Resumptive «так… и»: «Так с тех пор и остался» uses the emphatic «так… и» frame — "and so he just stayed on," rounding off the little narrative of how the sponger lodged himself with her. «Скитающийся» (wandering) is a present active participle modifying «приживальщик».

Даже в болезни ее он не ушел из дома.  
Even during her illness he did not leave the house.
> Fronted «даже» + perfective negation: Fronting «даже в болезни ее» ("even during her illness") foregrounds the concession; «не ушел» is negated perfective — he did not (once and for all) leave. «Ушел» is the perfective of the prefixed motion verb «уходить/уйти».

Феня и ее мать, кухарка Грушеньки, его не прогнали, а продолжали его кормить и стлать ему постель на диване.  
Fenya and her mother, Grushenka's cook, did not drive him out, but went on feeding him and making up his bed on the sofa.
> Contrastive «а» pivoting two clauses: «Не прогнали, а продолжали» hinges on «а», the mild contrastive "but/rather": not «но» of opposition but a corrective "instead" — they did not drive him out, but on the contrary kept feeding him. «Продолжали… кормить и стлать» shows «продолжать» governing imperfective infinitives.
> «Кухарка» — the cook: «Кухарка» is a (female) cook, a servant of modest standing in a household. Naming Fenya's mother «кухарка Грушеньки» sketches the small domestic staff Grushenka keeps.

Впоследствии Грушенька даже привыкла к нему и, приходя от Мити (к которому, чуть оправившись, тотчас же стала ходить, не успев даже хорошенько выздороветь) , чтоб убить тоску, садилась и начинала разговаривать с «Максимушкой» о всяких пустяках, только чтобы не думать о своем горе.  
Later on Grushenka even grew used to him, and, coming back from Mitya (to whom, the moment she had recovered a little, she at once began going, without even having properly gotten well), she would sit down, to kill the misery, and begin chatting with "little Maximov" about all sorts of trifles, only so as not to think about her own grief.
> Imperfective gerund + «от» of source: «Приходя» is the present (imperfective) gerund "coming/whenever she came," marking a habitual simultaneous action with «садилась… начинала». «От Мити» is «от» + genitive, motion away from a person.
> Negated gerund «не успев»: «Не успев… выздороветь» is a negated perfective gerund — "without even having properly gotten well." «Хорошенько» is the diminutive-adverb "properly, good and well," colloquial and warm.
> Affectionate «Максимушка»: «Максимушка» (here instrumental «Максимушкой») is the tender diminutive of Maximov's name, with the endearing «-ушк-» suffix — "dear little Maximov." Grushenka's adopting this pet-name marks her thawing, half-maternal acceptance of him.

Оказалось, что старичок умел иногда кое-что и порассказать, так что стал ей наконец даже и необходимым.  
It turned out that the little old man could sometimes tell a story or two, so that in the end he became downright indispensable to her.
> Impersonal «оказалось, что»: «Оказалось, что…» ("it turned out that…") is a subjectless impersonal with the «-ся» verb introducing a «что»-clause of discovered fact. It is the standard narrative hinge for revealing something not expected.
> Predicate instrumental after «стать»: «Стал… необходимым» puts the predicate adjective in the instrumental «необходимым» after «стать» (to become) — the standard predicate-instrumental of an assumed/acquired state. «Ей» is the dative of the person to whom he became indispensable.
> «Порассказать» — to tell a thing or two: «Порассказать», with the attenuative prefix «по-», means to recount a bit, tell a story or two now and again. The prefix lends a light, occasional sense matching «иногда кое-что».

Кроме Алеши, заходившего, однако, не каждый день, и всегда ненадолго, Грушенька никого почти и не принимала.  
Apart from Alyosha, who looked in, however, not every day and never for long, Grushenka received almost no one.
> Past active participle «заходивший»: «Заходившего» (genitive, agreeing with «Алеши») is the past active participle of the iterative «заходить» — "who used to look in." It carries the parenthetical "however, not every day," compressing a relative clause about his visiting habits.
> Negative concord «никого… не»: «Никого… не принимала» pairs the negative pronoun «никого» (genitive/accusative of «никто») with verbal «не» — obligatory double negation: "she received almost no one." «И» here is the emphatic particle reinforcing the negation.

Старик же ее, купец, лежал в это время уже страшно больной, «отходил», как говорили в городе, и действительно умер всего неделю спустя после суда над Митей.  
As for her old man, the merchant, he lay at this time already dreadfully ill — "on his way out," as they said in the town — and he did in fact die just a week after Mitya's trial.
> Topic-shifting «же» + apposition: «Старик же ее, купец…» uses «же» to switch topic — "as for her old man, the merchant…" «Купец» is in loose apposition to «старик». «Старик ее» is a slightly disdainful way of naming Grushenka's old merchant protector.
> «Отходить» — to be dying: Here «отходил» is the euphemistic "was passing away / on his way out" (cf. «отойти в мир иной»), which is why the narrator frames it in quotation marks as the townsfolk's phrase. We render it "on his way out."
> «Спустя» of elapsed time: «Неделю спустя» ("a week later") uses «спустя» with the accusative of duration — the postposed «спустя» is the bookish counterpart of «через». «После суда» («after the trial») adds «после» + genitive.

За три недели до смерти, почувствовав близкий финал, он кликнул к себе наконец наверх сыновей своих, с их женами и детьми, и повелел им уже более не отходить от себя.  
Three weeks before his death, sensing the end was near, he summoned his sons up to him at last, with their wives and children, and commanded them not to leave his side anymore.
> Perfective gerund «почувствовав»: «Почувствовав» ("having sensed/felt") is a perfective gerund prior to «кликнул» — sensing the end, then summoning his family. It governs its own accusative object «близкий финал».
> «Повелеть» + dative + negated infinitive: «Повелел им… не отходить» ("commanded them not to leave") is the command-pattern: «повелеть» (a solemn, archaic "to command") + dative «им» + infinitive. «Повелеть» itself is elevated, fitting the patriarch's deathbed authority.

Грушеньку же с этой самой минуты строго заказал слугам не принимать вовсе, а коли придет, то говорить ей: «Приказывает, дескать, вам долго в веселии жить, а их совсем позабыть».  
And from that very minute he strictly forbade his servants to admit Grushenka at all, and if she should come, to tell her: "He bids you, he says, live long in your merriment, and forget him entirely."
> Old «заказать» = forbid; fronted accusative object: Here «заказал… не принимать» means "strictly forbade [the servants] to admit" — an archaic sense of «заказать» (to forbid, prohibit). The object «Грушеньку» is fronted for emphasis with topic-shifting «же», while «слугам» is the dative of those commanded.
> Reportative particle «дескать»: «Дескать» flags reported speech with a tinge of distance or irony — "he says, supposedly, as the message went." It (with «мол», «де») lets the narrator relay the dying merchant's haughty words as quoted, not owned.
> «В веселии» — bookish locative of «веселье»: «В веселии» («in merriment, in your gaiety») uses the elevated -ии locative form (modern would be «в веселье»). The old merchant's parting jab — "live long in your merriment and forget me" — wraps bitterness in a near-biblical cadence.

Грушенька, однако ж, посылала почти каждый день справляться об его здоровье.  
Grushenka, however, sent almost every day to inquire after his health.
> Concessive «однако ж»: «Однако ж» (= «однако же») is "however, nonetheless," the «ж» an emphatic shortening of «же». It marks the contrast: forbidden the house, she still sent daily to ask after him.
> Imperfective «посылала» of habit + infinitive of purpose: «Посылала… справляться» — imperfective «посылала» ("sent" repeatedly, almost every day) plus the imperfective infinitive «справляться» (to inquire) expressing the errand's purpose. The whole records a settled habit, not one act.

— Наконец-то пришел! — крикнула она, бросив карты и радостно здороваясь с Алешей, — а Максимушка так пугал, что, пожалуй, уж и не придешь. Ах, как тебя нужно! Садись к столу; ну что тебе, кофею?  
"There you are at last!" she cried, throwing down the cards and greeting Alyosha joyfully. "And little Maximov here was frightening me that maybe you wouldn't come after all. Ah, how I need you! Sit down at the table; now, what'll you have — coffee?"
> Emphatic «-то» on «наконец»: The clitic «-то» on «наконец» heightens the relief — "at long last you've come!" This emphatic «-то» (distinct from the indefinite «кто-то») underscores a known, awaited thing finally happening.
> Two gerunds, two aspects: «Бросив карты» is a perfective gerund (the cards already flung down) while «радостно здороваясь» is imperfective (greeting going on as she cries out) — a neat contrast of completed vs ongoing attendant action around «крикнула».
> Partitive genitive «кофею»: «Кофею» is an old partitive genitive (modern «кофе»/«кофию»), "some coffee" — the genitive of a portion offered. The whole «что тебе, кофею?» is elliptical, warm, colloquial: "what'll you have — some coffee?"

— А пожалуй, — сказал Алеша, подсаживаясь к столу, — очень проголодался.  
"All right, then," said Alyosha, settling in at the table. "I'm very hungry."
> «А пожалуй» — assenting hedge: «Пожалуй» here is "all right then, I suppose, why not" — a hedged assent, not its other meaning "please." The opening «а» softly picks up the conversation. «Проголодался» is perfective "got hungry," the resulting state "I'm hungry."
> Imperfective gerund «подсаживаясь»: «Подсаживаясь» is the present gerund of «подсаживаться» (to take a seat beside), action simultaneous with «сказал». The «-ся» is the change-of-state reflexive; «к столу» is «к» + dative goal.

— То-то; Феня, Феня, кофею! — крикнула Грушенька . — Он у меня уж давно кипит, тебя ждет, да пирожков принеси, да чтобы горячих. Нет, постой, Алеша, у меня с этими пирогами сегодня гром вышел. Понесла я их к нему в острог, а он, веришь ли, назад мне их бросил, так и не ел. Один пирог так совсем на пол кинул и растоптал. Я и сказала: «Сторожу оставлю; коли не съешь до вечера, значит тебя злость ехидная кормит!» — с тем и ушла. Опять ведь поссорились, веришь тому. Что ни приду, так и поссоримся.  
"That's it; Fenya, Fenya, coffee!" cried Grushenka. "It's been on the boil for a good while now, waiting for you — and bring some little pies too, and mind they're hot. No, wait, Alyosha, there was thunder over those pies today. I carried them to him at the jail, and he — would you believe it — flung them back at me and wouldn't eat them. One pie he chucked clean onto the floor and trampled. So I said: 'I'll leave them with the warder; if you don't eat them by evening, it means a spiteful venom is feeding you!' — and with that I left. We quarreled again, would you believe it. No matter when I go, we always quarrel."
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «Веришь ли» ("would you believe it?") fronts the verb with the enclitic «ли» forming a rhetorical yes/no question. Grushenka studs her excited speech with it; she repeats the plainer «веришь тому» too.
> «Что ни… , так и…» — every time…: «Что ни приду, так и поссоримся» is the generalizing concessive frame "no matter when I come, we end up quarreling" — «что ни» + perfective «приду» (perfective present = future-of-each-occasion) correlated with «так и». The «ни» here is the universalizing, not the negating, particle.
> «Пирожки» — little pies: «Пирожки» are small stuffed hand-pies (diminutive of «пирог»), a homely Russian staple. Grushenka carrying hot «пирожки» to Mitya in jail, and his trampling them, turns food into the medium of their lovers' quarrel.
> «Ехидная злость» — venomous spite: «Ехидный» means venomous, malicious, snide (from «ехидна», a viper/echidna); «злость ехидная» (with the bookish postposed adjective) is "a spiteful venom." Grushenka half-jokingly says such spite is what's "feeding" Mitya.

Грушенька проговорила всё это залпом, в волнении.  
Grushenka rattled all this off in one breath, in great agitation.
> «Залпом» — in one breath, all at once: «Залпом» (instrumental of «залп», a volley/salvo) means "all in one go, at a gulp, in one breath." Applied to «проговорила», it conveys Grushenka pouring out the whole tirade without pause.

Максимов, тотчас же оробев, улыбался, потупив глазки.  
Maximov, immediately growing timid, smiled, his little eyes cast down.
> Perfective gerund + diminutive «глазки»: «Потупив глазки» ("casting down his little eyes") is a perfective gerund of attendant circumstance. «Глазки» is the diminutive of «глаза» — Maximov's "little eyes," the suffix marking him as small and pitiable.
> «Оробеть» — to grow timid: «Оробеть» (gerund «оробев») is to lose one's nerve, turn shy and frightened (from «робкий», timid). The inceptive «о-» perfective marks the sudden onset of his cowed shyness.

— Этот-то раз за что же поссорились? — спросил Алеша.  
"What was it you quarreled about this time?" Alyosha asked.
> Emphatic «-то» + «же» in one question: Two particles color the question: «-то» on «этот раз» topicalizes "this time in particular," and «же» after «за что» adds insistence — "so what on earth did you quarrel about this time?" «За что» is «за» + accusative, "over/for what."

— Да уж совсем и не ожидала! Представь себе, к «прежнему» приревновал: «Зачем, дескать, ты его содержишь. Ты его, значит, содержать начала?» Всё ревнует, всё меня ревнует! И спит и ест — ревнует. К Кузьме даже раз на прошлой неделе приревновал.  
"I never expected it at all! Imagine, he got jealous over the 'former one': 'Why,' says he, 'are you keeping him? So you've started keeping him, have you?' He's jealous over everything, jealous over everything to do with me! Even sleeping and eating — he's jealous. Last week he even got jealous over Kuzma once."
> Inceptive «приревновал» + «к» of the rival: «Приревновал» is the inceptive perfective "got jealous (suddenly)," and the object of jealousy takes «к» + dative: «к прежнему» ("over the former one"). «Прежний» substantivized is Grushenka's mocking name for the Pole, her old flame.
> Phasal «начать» + imperfective infinitive: «Содержать начала» ("you've started keeping him") shows the phasal verb «начать» governing an imperfective infinitive «содержать» — phasal verbs (begin, continue, stop) require the imperfective. The inversion puts «начала» last for sneering emphasis.
> Asyndetic «и… и» — even doing X he…: «И спит и ест — ревнует» means "sleeping and eating alike — he's jealous," the doubled «и… и» ("both… and / even when") sweeping all his states under the jealousy. The clipped present-tense verbs convey her exasperation.

— Да ведь он же знал про «прежнего»-то?  
"But he knew about the 'former one,' didn't he?"
> Stacked particles «да ведь… же»: Three particles open the line: «да» (well/but), «ведь» (appealing to shared knowledge, "after all"), and «же» (insistence). Together they press the obvious objection — "but surely he already knew about the 'former one,' didn't he?" «-то» on «прежнего» topicalizes the known Pole.

— Ну вот поди. С самого начала до самого сегодня знал, а сегодня вдруг встал и начал ругать. Срамно только сказать, что говорил. Дурак! Ракитка к нему пришел, как я вышла. Может, Ракитка-то его и уськает, а? Как ты думаешь? — прибавила она как бы рассеянно.  
"Well, there you are. He knew from the very start right up to this very day, and today he suddenly got up and started in scolding. I'm ashamed even to say what he said. The fool! Rakitka had come to see him as I was leaving. Maybe it's Rakitka egging him on, eh? What do you think?" she added, as though absently.
> «Поди» — old imperative as discourse word: «Ну вот поди» uses «поди», an old imperative of «пойти», frozen into a colloquial interjection "go figure / there you are / who'd have thought." It marks Grushenka's helpless wonder at Mitya's behavior.
> «Уськать» — to egg on, set on: «Уськать» is a vivid colloquial verb meaning to incite, egg on, sic someone (originally to set a dog on, from «усь!»). Grushenka suspects Rakitin of "setting Mitya on," stoking his jealousy.
> Hedging «как бы»: «Как бы рассеянно» ("as though absently") uses the hedging «как бы» to qualify the manner — she added it with feigned, studied casualness. The narrator's «как бы» quietly flags that the casualness is a pose.

— Любит он тебя, вот что, очень любит. А теперь как раз и раздражен.  
"He loves you, that's what it is; he loves you very much. And just now he's all on edge."
> Verb-first focus + summarizing «вот что»: Fronting the verb «любит» before the subject «он» throws the weight onto the loving itself, and «вот что» ("that's what it is") sums up the diagnosis. «Раздражен» is a short-form past passive participle, predicative "is irritated/on edge."

— Еще бы не раздражен, завтра судят. И шла с тем, чтоб об завтрашнем ему мое слово сказать, потому, Алеша, страшно мне даже и подумать, что завтра будет! Ты вот говоришь, что он раздражен, да я-то как раздражена! А он об поляке! Экой дурак! Вот к Максимушке небось не ревнует.  
"Of course he's on edge — tomorrow they try him. And I'd gone to have my say to him about tomorrow, because, Alyosha, I'm terrified even to think what tomorrow will bring! You say he's on edge — well, how on edge am I! And he goes on about the Pole! What a fool! See, he's certainly not jealous over little Maximov."
> Idiomatic «еще бы» with «бы»: «Еще бы!» is the emphatic idiom "of course! you bet! no wonder," built on the irrealis «бы». «Еще бы не раздражен» = "of course he's on edge." Here «судят» is an indefinite-personal plural, "they're trying him (tomorrow)."
> Contrastive «я-то»: «Я-то» pits Grushenka against Mitya — the emphatic clitic «-то» means "I, for my part / as for me." «Раздражена» is the feminine short-form passive participle, matching the masculine «раздражен» she just quoted of Mitya.
> «Экой» — colloquial 'what a…!': «Экой» (= «экий») is a folksy exclamatory "what a…!, such a…!" — «Экой дурак!» = "what a fool!" It belongs to lively, lower-register spoken Russian, fitting Grushenka's outburst.

— Меня супруга моя очень тоже ревновала-с, — вставил свое словцо Максимов.  
"My wife was very jealous over me too, ma'am," Maximov put in his little word.
> The deferential particle -с: The -с tacked onto ревновала-с (and onto заявили-с, ничтожен-с, нужнее меня-с elsewhere in this chapter) is the slovoers, a worn-down form of сударь ("sir/madam"). Added to words, it signals servility or fussy old-fashioned politeness. Maximov, a dependent hanger-on, sprinkles it through his speech; it has no English equivalent — we suggest it with the occasional tacked-on "sir/ma'am" or simply let it fall away.
> «Супруга» — wife (elevated): «Супруга» is the formal, dignified word for "wife" (vs everyday «жена»). Maximov's reaching for the genteel «супруга моя» about his late wife is of a piece with his fussy «-с»: pretensions of refinement from a ragged dependent.

— Ну уж тебя-то, — рассмеялась нехотя Грушенька, — к кому тебя и ревновать-то?  
"Well, as for you," Grushenka laughed despite herself, "who would there even be to be jealous of you over?"
> Doubled «-то» and rhetorical infinitive: Grushenka frames a teasing rhetorical question: «к кому… ревновать-то?» — "who would there even be to be jealous of you over?" The bare infinitive «ревновать» plus «-то» and emphatic «и» mocks the very idea. «К кому» is «к» + dative for the would-be rival.
> «Нехотя» — reluctant gerund-turned-adverb: «Нехотя» ("unwillingly, despite herself") is a frozen negated gerund of «хотеть» now used as an adverb. «Рассмеялась» is the inceptive perfective "burst out laughing."

— К горничным девушкам-с.  
"Over the chambermaids, ma'am."
> Elliptical answer in «к» + dative: Maximov's deadpan reply «К горничным девушкам-с» ("over the chambermaids, ma'am") completes Grushenka's question by supplying just the «к» + dative rival-phrase, capped with the servile «-с». «Горничные девушки» are housemaids.

— Э, молчи, Максимушка, не до смеху мне теперь, даже злость берет. На пирожки-то глаз не пяль, не дам, тебе вредно, и бальзамчику тоже не дам. Вот с ним тоже возись; точно у меня дом богадельный, право, — рассмеялась она.  
"Oh, hush, little Maximov, I'm in no mood for laughing now — I'm half angry, even. Don't be eyeing those little pies, I won't give you any; they're bad for you, and I won't give you any cordial either. Just look — I've got him on my hands too; honestly, it's as though I kept an almshouse," she laughed.
> Negated imperative + topicalizing «-то»: «Не пяль глаз» is a negated imperfective imperative "don't go gawping/eyeing," the imperfective normal for prohibitions. «На пирожки-то» fronts the pies with topic-marking «-то»: "those pies — don't be eyeing them."
> Dative-subject «тебе вредно»: «Тебе вредно» ("it's bad for you") is a classic impersonal: dative experiencer «тебе» + the predicative «вредно», no nominative subject. Russian frames "X is bad/good for someone" this dative way.
> Diminutive partitive «бальзамчику»: «Бальзамчик» is the cozy diminutive of «бальзам», a sweet herbal cordial or liqueur; the «-у» ending is a partitive genitive ("any cordial"). The pet-diminutive makes the little treat she withholds sound homier still.

— Я ваших благодеяний не стою-с, я ничтожен-с, — проговорил слезящимся голоском Максимов. — Лучше бы вы расточали благодеяния ваши тем, которые нужнее меня-с.  
"I am not worthy of your kindnesses, ma'am; I am a worthless creature, ma'am," Maximov uttered in a tearful little voice. "You would do better to lavish your kindnesses on those who need them more than I, ma'am."
> Genitive after «стоить»: «Не стою благодеяний» — the verb «стоить» (to be worth/worthy of) governs the genitive «благодеяний» ("your kindnesses"), and the negation reinforces it. "I am not worthy of your kindnesses."
> Short adjective «ничтожен» + «-с»: «Ничтожен» is the predicative short form of «ничтожный» ("insignificant, worthless") — short adjectives serve only as predicates and carry an absolute, almost confessional ring. Capped with the servile «-с», it is Maximov's abject self-abasement.
> Optative «бы» + comparative «лучше»: «Лучше бы вы расточали…» ("you'd do better to lavish…") uses the irrealis «бы» with past-form «расточали» to soften advice into a wish — "it would be better if you bestowed." «Тем, которые нужнее меня» is a correlative «тем… которые» with a comparative governing the genitive «меня».

— Эх, всякий нужен, Максимушка, и по чему узнать, кто кого нужней. Хоть бы и не было этого поляка вовсе, Алеша, тоже ведь разболеться сегодня вздумал. Была и у него. Так вот нарочно же и ему пошлю пирогов, я не посылала, а Митя обвинил, что посылаю, так вот нарочно же теперь пошлю, нарочно! Ах, вот и Феня с письмом! Ну, так и есть, опять от поляков, опять денег просят!  
"Eh, everyone is needed, little Maximov, and how is one to tell who needs whom. If only that Pole had never existed at all, Alyosha — he too has taken it into his head to fall ill today. I've been to see him too. So now I'll send him pies on purpose; I wasn't sending them, but Mitya accused me of sending them, so now I'll send them on purpose, on purpose! Ah, and here's Fenya with a letter! Well, just as I thought — from the Poles again, asking for money again!"
> Embedded question with double interrogatives: «Кто кого нужней» packs two interrogatives — «кто» (nom.) and «кого» (acc.) — into one tight clause: "who is more needed than whom." «Нужней» is the predicative comparative of «нужный». The whole is governed by «узнать» ("how is one to tell…").
> «Вздумать» + infinitive — to take it into one's head: «Вздумал разболеться» means "took it into his head to fall ill," «вздумать» being the perfective of a sudden whim. «Разболеться» («раз-» + «-ся») is the inceptive "to fall properly ill." Grushenka's irritation at the Pole's untimely sickness rings through.
> Perfective future «пошлю» of resolve: «Пошлю» is the perfective simple future ("I'll send [and be done with it]"), repeated with «нарочно» (on purpose) for stubborn emphasis. The conjugated perfective carries future meaning with no auxiliary — a single, willed act of spite.

Пан Муссялович действительно прислал чрезвычайно длинное и витиеватое, по своему обыкновению, письмо, в котором просил ссудить его тремя рублями.  
Pan Mussyalovich had in fact sent an exceedingly long and florid letter, after his usual manner, in which he asked her to lend him three rubles.
> Пан — the Polish "Mr.": Пан is the Polish title of address ("sir, Mr."), used in Russian to mark the two Poles, Mussyalovich and Vrublevsky, as foreigners standing on their dignity. The narrator's repeated пан, and Grushenka's mocking «прежний» ("the former one"), color them as pompous and faintly absurd. We keep "Pan" untranslated to preserve that flavor.
> «Витиеватый» — florid, ornate: «Витиеватый» means flowery, convoluted, rhetorically overblown (from «вития», an orator). Applied to the Pole's begging letter, «по своему обыкновению» (after his usual manner), it mocks his pompous, padded style.
> «Ссудить кого чем» — instrumental of the sum: «Ссудить» (to lend, advance) here takes the person as object («его») and the sum in the instrumental «тремя рублями» ("with three rubles"). «Тремя… рублями» shows the numeral «три» itself declining in the instrumental, with «рублями» agreeing.

К письму была приложена расписка в получении с обязательством уплатить в течение трех месяцев; под распиской подписался и пан Врублевский.  
Enclosed with the letter was a receipt acknowledging the loan, with an undertaking to repay it within three months; beneath the receipt Pan Vrublevsky had signed his name as well.
> Passive «была приложена» + dative complement: «Была приложена» is a short-form past passive participle with «была» — "was enclosed/appended," with «к письму» ("to the letter") as «к» + dative. The subject «расписка» follows, again the inversion that introduces a new item.
> Instrumental «с» + genitive of time-span: «С обязательством» is «с» + instrumental ("with an undertaking"), and «в течение трех месяцев» ("within three months") uses «в течение» + genitive «трех месяцев», the numeral and noun both genitive. Legal-sounding precision in the IOU.
> Reflexive «подписаться» — to sign one's name: «Подписался» (from «подписаться») uses the «-ся» as a true reflexive — to put one's own name down, sign oneself. So "Pan Vrublevsky too signed (his name)."

Таких писем и всё с такими же расписками Грушенька уже много получила от своего «прежнего».  
Many such letters, all with such receipts, Grushenka had already received from her "former one."
> Genitive after quantity: «Таких писем» is genitive plural, governed by «много» ('many') further on in the sentence; quantity words pull what they count into the genitive. Note too how the whole heavy object phrase is fronted before the subject «Грушенька», throwing the new information to the back.
> Reflexive «свой» + the genitive «от»: «Своего» is the reflexive possessive, pointing back to the subject Grushenka — 'her own former one'. The preposition «от» governs the genitive, and the adjective «прежний» ('former') is used as a noun, with quotation marks marking the wry euphemism for her old Polish lover.

Началось это с самого выздоровления Грушеньки, недели две назад.  
This had begun right from Grushenka's recovery, about two weeks before.
> Reflexive «-ся» as middle voice: «Началось» (from «начаться») uses the clitic «-ся» to make the verb intransitive: not 'someone began it' but 'it began of itself'. The neuter «-ось» agrees with the neuter pronoun «это».
> Genitive of starting point: «С» here means 'starting from' and takes the genitive: «с самого выздоровления» — 'from the very recovery'. «Самого» ('very, the exact') intensifies the noun, a common emphatic use distinct from the reflexive «сам».

Она знала, однако, что оба пана и во время болезни ее приходили наведываться о ее здоровье.  
She knew, however, that both Pans had come around to inquire after her health even during her illness.
> «Пан» — the Polish gentleman: «Пан» is the Polish word for 'Mr./gentleman', used throughout for Grushenka's two Poles to mark them as foreign and faintly absurd. «Оба пана» — 'both Pans'; «оба» (m.) / «обе» (f.) is the special word for 'both'.
> Imperfective for repeated visits: «Приходили наведываться» pairs an imperfective verb of arrival with an imperfective infinitive 'to inquire' — the imperfective signals that they came round more than once, as background habit rather than a single event.

Первое письмо, полученное Грушенькой, было длинное, на почтовом листе большого формата, запечатанное большою фамильною печатью и страшно темное и витиеватое, так что Грушенька прочла только половину и бросила, ровно ничего не поняв.  
The first letter Grushenka received was a long one, on a large sheet of writing paper, sealed with a great family crest and so terribly murky and florid that Grushenka read only half and tossed it aside, having understood absolutely nothing.
> Past passive participle: «Полученное» is a past passive participle ('received'), agreeing in neuter singular with «письмо» and condensing a relative clause ('which was received'). Its agent, Grushenka, stands in the instrumental «Грушенькой» — the case of the doer behind a passive.
> «Витиеватый» — florid, convoluted: «Витиеватый» means ornate and twisting in style, full of rhetorical curlicues; with «темное» ('murky, obscure') it skewers the Pan's pretentious prose. The word recurs in this chapter as the keynote of his letters.
> Perfective gerund + double negation: «Поняв» is a perfective past gerund ('having understood'), naming a completed circumstance attendant on «бросила». «Ничего… не» is obligatory negative concord — the ни-word and «не» together mean 'nothing at all', reinforced by «ровно» ('absolutely').

Да и не до писем ей тогда было.  
And besides, she had no time for letters just then.
> Dative + «не до» idiom: «Ей не до писем» is an impersonal construction: the experiencer Grushenka is in the dative «ей», and «не до» + genitive «писем» means 'had no time/mind for letters'. There is no nominative subject — a hallmark of how Russian frames states of mind.
> «Да и» — 'and besides': Sentence-initial «Да и» is a colloquial connective meaning 'and besides, what's more', adding a clinching afterthought. Here «да» is not 'yes' but a coordinating particle.

За этим первым письмом последовало на другой день второе, в котором пан Муссялович просил ссудить его двумя тысячами рублей на самый короткий срок.  
This first letter was followed the next day by a second, in which Pan Mussyalovich asked her to lend him two thousand rubles for the very shortest of terms.
> «Следовать за» + instrumental: «Последовать за» ('to follow after') governs the instrumental, so 'after this first letter' becomes «за этим первым письмом», with demonstrative, adjective, and noun all in the instrumental. The real subject «второе» ('a second') waits at the end.
> Instrumental of the thing lent: «Ссудить кого чем» — to lend someone something — takes the lent amount in the instrumental: «двумя тысячами рублей», 'with two thousand rubles'. «Рублей» is genitive plural after the numeral 'thousand'.

Грушенька и это письмо оставила без ответа.  
This letter too Grushenka left without a reply.
> Fronted object + emphatic «и»: The object «это письмо» is pulled in front of the verb, and «и» here is the emphatic particle 'too / also' — 'this letter too she left unanswered'. Word order and «и» together carry the focus that English marks with stress.

Затем последовал уже целый ряд писем, по письму в день, всё так же важных и витиеватых, но в которых сумма, просимая взаймы, постепенно спускаясь, дошла до ста рублей, до двадцати пяти, до десяти рублей, и наконец вдруг Грушенька получила письмо, в котором оба пана просили у ней один только рубль и приложили расписку, на которой оба и подписались.  
After that came a whole string of letters, one a day, all just as solemn and florid, but in which the sum requested as a loan, dropping by degrees, fell to a hundred rubles, then to twenty-five, then to ten rubles, and at last Grushenka suddenly received a letter in which both Pans asked her for one single ruble and enclosed a receipt that both had signed.
> Participle and gerund stacked together: Two non-finite forms pile onto one noun: «просимая» is a present passive participle ('being requested') modifying «сумма», and «спускаясь» is an imperfective gerund ('dropping') describing how the sum «дошла» ('reached') its low point. This dense participial layering is the texture of literary narration.
> «До» + genitive numerals: Each step down is «до» ('down to') + genitive: «ста» (gen. of сто), «двадцати пяти», «десяти». The preposition «до» always governs the genitive, and numerals themselves decline.

Тогда Грушеньке стало вдруг жалко, и она, в сумерки, сбегала сама к пану.  
Then Grushenka was suddenly seized with pity, and at dusk she ran round herself to the Pan.
> Dative subject of feeling: Another experiencer construction: «Грушеньке» (dative) + «стало жалко» ('became pitying / felt pity') — literally 'to Grushenka it became pitiable'. The feeling befalls her; there is no nominative subject.
> Multidirectional «сбегать» — a round trip: «Сбегала» (prefixed «с-» + the multidirectional «бегать») here means 'ran over and back', a quick there-and-return errand — distinct from one-way «побежала». «К пану» uses «к» + dative for motion toward a person.

Нашла она обоих поляков в страшной бедности, почти в нищете, без кушанья, без дров, без папирос, задолжавших хозяйке.  
She found both Poles in terrible poverty, almost in destitution, with no food, no firewood, no cigarettes, and in debt to their landlady.
> Anaphora of «без» + genitive: The hammering repetition of «без» ('without'), each governing the genitive (кушанья, дров, папирос), paints destitution by sheer accumulation of absences. «Без» always takes the genitive.
> «Нищета» and «папироса»: «Нищета» is abject, beggarly poverty, a notch below ordinary «бедность». A «папироса» is the old Russian cardboard-tube cigarette (not a paper-rolled «сигарета»), a period detail of the two Poles' shabby-genteel life.
> Past active participle in the accusative: «Задолжавших» is a past active participle ('having gotten into debt') agreeing with «обоих поляков», the animate object of «нашла», hence its genitive-shaped accusative ending. It governs «хозяйке» in the dative — one owes a debt 'to' someone.

Двести рублей, выигранные в Мокром у Мити, куда-то быстро исчезли.  
The two hundred rubles won from Mitya at Mokroye had somehow swiftly vanished.
> Past passive participle + «у» of source: «Выигранные» is a past passive participle ('won'), agreeing with «двести рублей». «У Мити» uses «у» + genitive to mark the person the money was won 'off of'. «Мокром» is the prepositional of the village name Mokroye, location after «в».

Удивило, однако же, Грушеньку, что встретили ее оба пана с заносчивою важностью и независимостью, с величайшим этикетом, с раздутыми речами.  
What surprised Grushenka, however, was that both Pans received her with haughty importance and independence, with the utmost ceremony, with inflated speeches.
> Impersonal verb fronted, «что»-clause subject: The neuter verb «удивило» ('surprised') leads, with «Грушеньку» as accusative object and the real subject deferred to the «что»-clause — 'what surprised G. was that…'. «Однако же» ('however') uses the insistent particle «же».
> Instrumental of manner + archaic ending: The chain «с… важностью… независимостью… этикетом… речами» is instrumental of manner after «с» ('with'). The adjective ending «-ою» in «заносчивою» is the older bookish variant of «-ой», common in 19th-century prose.

Грушенька только рассмеялась и дала своему «прежнему» десять рублей.  
Grushenka merely laughed and gave her "former one" ten rubles.
> Dative recipient + reflexive «свой»: «Дать» takes the recipient in the dative: «своему прежнему» ('to her own former one'), again the reflexive possessive pointing back to Grushenka. «Десять рублей» is the direct object, with «рублей» genitive plural after 'ten'.

Тогда же, смеясь, рассказала об этом Мите, и тот вовсе не приревновал.  
She told Mitya about it then, laughing, and he was not in the least jealous.
> Imperfective gerund of simultaneity: «Смеясь» ('laughing') is an imperfective present gerund expressing an action going on at the same time as the main verb «рассказала» — 'laughing, she told'. The subject is shared with the main clause.
> «Тот» as tracking pronoun + perfective of onset: «Тот» ('that one') refers back to Mitya, a demonstrative used to switch the subject cleanly. «Приревновал» is perfective — the prefix «при-» here gives an inceptive 'flare of jealousy'; «вовсе не» ('not in the least') negates it emphatically.

Но с тех пор паны ухватились за Грушеньку и каждый день ее бомбардировали письмами с просьбой о деньгах, а та каждый раз посылала понемножку.  
But from then on the Pans fastened onto Grushenka and bombarded her every day with letters begging for money, and each time she would send a little.
> Reflexive «ухватиться за» + accusative: «Ухватиться за кого» ('to fasten/seize onto someone') is a reflexive «-ся» verb whose object takes «за» + accusative. The «-ся» here marks the grip as self-directed, an intensive seizing-hold.
> Contrastive «а» + «та» + imperfective habit: «А» is the mild contrastive 'and/while', shifting back to Grushenka, here named only by «та» ('that one'). «Посылала» is imperfective for a repeated habit ('would send each time'), and «понемножку» is a tender diminutive adverb 'a little bit at a time'.

И вот вдруг сегодня Митя вздумал жестоко приревновать.  
And now suddenly, today, Mitya had taken it into his head to be cruelly jealous.
> «Вздумать» + perfective inceptive: «Вздумать» ('to take it into one's head') is a perfective of sudden whim, followed by the perfective infinitive «приревновать» whose «при-» again gives the inception of jealousy. The doubled «вдруг… вздумал» underscores the abruptness.

— Я, дура, к нему тоже забежала, всего только на минутку, когда к Мите шла, потому разболелся тоже и он, пан-то мой прежний, — начала опять Грушенька, суетливо и торопясь, — смеюсь я это и рассказываю Мите-то: представь, говорю, поляк-то мой на гитаре прежние песни мне вздумал петь, думает, что я расчувствуюсь и за него пойду. А Митя-то как вскочит с ругательствами… Так вот нет же, пошлю панам пирогов! Феня, что они там девчонку эту прислали? Вот, отдай ей три рубля да с десяток пирожков в бумагу им уверни и вели снести, а ты, Алеша, непременно расскажи Мите, что я им пирогов послала.  
"Fool that I am, I ran over to him too, only for a minute, on my way to Mitya, because he too had fallen ill — that Pan of mine, the former one," Grushenka began again, fidgeting and hurrying. "So I'm laughing and I tell Mitya: imagine, I say, that Pole of mine took it into his head to sing me his old songs on the guitar — he thinks I'll go all soft and come back to him. And Mitya, how he leaps up with his curses… So no, there now, I'll send the Pans some pies! Fenya, did they send that girl over there? Here, give her three rubles and wrap up a dozen little pies for them in paper, and tell her to take them along; and you, Alyosha, be sure to tell Mitya that I sent them the pies."
> «Дура» — self-deprecating 'fool': «Дура» is the feminine of «дурак», a fool — here Grushenka applies it to herself in affectionate exasperation, a very Dostoevskian self-scolding that opens her tumble of speech.
> Prefixed «за-» of a quick stop-in + diminutive: «Забежать» (prefix «за-» + «бежать») means to drop in / run by on the way somewhere — exactly 'I ran over to him' en route to Mitya. «На минутку» softens it with the diminutive of «минута», 'just for a wee minute'.
> The topic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» tacked onto «пан», «Мите», «поляк», «Митя» throughout this speech is the colloquial topic-emphasizer 'as for…, that…' — it foregrounds a known referent and gives the dialogue its breathless, folk-storytelling rhythm. Distinct from indefinite «кто-то».
> Perfective future + «пойти за» (to marry): «Расчувствуюсь» and «пойду» are perfective verbs in present-tense form, hence simple future ('I'll go soft and go off with him'). «Пойти за кого» — literally 'go behind/after someone' — is the idiom for a woman marrying a man.
> «Как» + perfective future for vivid past: «Как вскочит» uses a present-form perfective with «как» to narrate a sudden past action vividly — 'and how Mitya leaps up!' This dramatic 'historical' future is a lively colloquial storytelling device.
> Chain of imperatives: Grushenka fires off perfective imperatives at Fenya: «отдай» ('give'), «уверни» ('wrap up'), «вели снести» ('order [it] taken'). «Снести» here is 'carry/take to', and «вели» + infinitive means 'order someone to do'. The clipped commands convey her bustling resolve.
> «Пирог» and the diminutive «пирожок»: «Пирог» is a baked pie/pastry; «пирожок» its diminutive, a small hand pie. Sending the destitute Poles a parcel of homely pies is a gesture of half-mocking peasant charity — and «с десяток» means 'about ten, a dozen or so'.

— Ни за что не расскажу, — проговорил, улыбнувшись, Алеша.  
"Not for anything will I tell him," Alyosha said, smiling.
> «Ни за что» — emphatic refusal: «Ни за что» ('not for anything, on no account') is a fixed ни-expression; paired with «не расскажу» it forms negative concord, the doubled negation reinforcing Alyosha's flat refusal. «Расскажу» is perfective future.
> Perfective gerund «улыбнувшись»: «Улыбнувшись» is a perfective past gerund ('having smiled / with a smile'), the «-вшись» form attaching the smile to «проговорил» as an attendant act. Dostoevsky's dialogue tags lean constantly on these gerunds.

— Эх, ты думаешь, что он мучается; ведь он это нарочно приревновал, а ему самому всё равно, — горько проговорила Грушенька.  
"Eh, you think he's suffering; why, he got jealous on purpose, and to him it's all the same anyhow," Grushenka said bitterly.
> Appeal particle «ведь»: «Ведь» appeals to shared knowledge — 'why, after all, you know' — coaxing Alyosha to see what Grushenka already sees. It is one of the modal particles English renders only with intonation, central to her persuasive voice.
> Dative experiencer in «всё равно»: «Ему всё равно» ('to him it's all the same / he doesn't care') is the classic dative-experiencer idiom: the person affected is dative «ему», intensified by «самому» ('to him himself'). No nominative subject.

— Как так нарочно? — спросил Алеша.  
"How do you mean, on purpose?" Alyosha asked.
> Elliptical question «как так»: «Как так?» ('how so? / what do you mean?') is a terse colloquial demand for explanation, with the verb left out — Alyosha simply echoes «нарочно» ('on purpose') back as a query. Such verbless rejoinders pace the rapid exchange.

— Глупый ты, Алешенька, вот что, ничего ты тут не понимаешь при всем уме, вот что. Мне не то обидно, что он меня, такую, приревновал, а то стало бы мне обидно, коли бы вовсе не ревновал. Я такова. Я за ревность не обижусь, у меня у самой сердце жестокое, я сама приревную. Только мне то обидно, что он меня вовсе не любит и теперь ''нарочно'' приревновал, вот что. Слепая я, что ли, не вижу? Он мне об той, об Катьке, вдруг сейчас и говорит: такая-де она и сякая, доктора из Москвы на суд для меня выписала, чтобы спасти меня выписала, адвоката самого первого, самого ученого тоже выписала. Значит, ее любит, коли мне в глаза начал хвалить, бесстыжие его глаза! Предо мной сам виноват, так вот ко мне и привязался, чтобы меня прежде себя виноватой сделать да на меня на одну и свалить: «ты, дескать, прежде меня с поляком была, так вот мне с Катькой и позволительно это стало». Вот оно что! На меня на одну всю вину свалить хочет. Нарочно он привязался, нарочно, говорю тебе, только я…  
"You're a simple soul, Alyoshenka, that's what; for all your cleverness, you understand nothing of this, that's what. It doesn't hurt me that he got jealous over me, such as I am — it would hurt me if he weren't jealous at all. That's how I am. I won't take offense at jealousy; I have a cruel heart myself, I'd be jealous too. What hurts me is that he doesn't love me at all and now got jealous ''on purpose'', that's what. Am I blind or what — don't I see? All at once just now he starts in to me about her, about Katka: she's this and she's that, sent for doctors from Moscow for the trial — for me, sent them to save me — sent for the very first, most learned lawyer too. So he loves her, if he began praising her to my face, the shameless eyes of him! He's the guilty one before me, so he's fastened onto me to make me out the guilty one first and lay it all on me alone: 'You,' he says, 'were with the Pole before me, so it's become permissible for me to take up with Katka.' That's what it is! He wants to lay the whole blame on me alone. He fastened onto me on purpose, on purpose, I tell you, only I…"
> «Алешенька» — the tender diminutive: Alyosha (itself short for Aleksei) is softened further to «Алешенька» with the affectionate «-енька» suffix — the warmest rung of the name-ladder, voicing Grushenka's fondness even as she chides him.
> Conditional with «бы» and archaic «коли»: This is a contrary-to-fact conditional: «коли бы… не ревновал» (past form + «бы») in the if-clause and «стало бы… обидно» in the result. «Коли» is a bookish, folk-archaic 'if', and «мне обидно» is again the dative experiencer.
> «Катька» — the pejorative diminutive: Katerina Ivanovna is reduced to «Катька», the «-ка» suffix here scornful and dismissive (contrast affectionate «Катенька»). Grushenka's rival is contemptuously cut down to size by the very form of her name.
> Reportative particles «де» and «дескать»: «Де» and «дескать» are quotative particles flagging reported speech — 'he says, so he claims' — and carrying a tinge of the speaker's skepticism. Grushenka uses them to throw Mitya's words back with mocking distance.
> Purpose «чтобы» + instrumental predicate: «Чтобы… сделать» expresses purpose ('in order to make…'). «Сделать кого виноватой» puts the resulting predicate in the instrumental «виноватой» ('to make me [out to be] guilty'), the case for an assumed role. «Себя» is the reflexive 'himself'.
> «Бесстыжий» — shameless: «Бесстыжий» ('shameless, brazen', literally 'without shame') is a coarse, folk-flavored reproach; «бесстыжие глаза» — 'the shameless eyes of him' — is an idiomatic exclamation of indignation at brazen effrontery.

Грушенька не договорила, что она сделает, закрыла глаза платком и ужасно разрыдалась.  
Grushenka did not finish saying what she would do, covered her eyes with her handkerchief, and burst into terrible sobs.
> Perfective future inside reported clause: «Сделает» is perfective in present form, so future — 'what she would do'. After the negated «не договорила» ('did not finish saying'), the «что»-clause reports the unspoken threat she breaks off.
> «Разрыдаться» — to burst into sobs: The prefix «раз-» on «рыдать» ('to sob') gives an inceptive, intensive burst — 'broke into violent weeping'. The «-ся» makes it the involuntary onset of a state, fitting Grushenka's sudden collapse.

— Он Катерину Ивановну не любит, — сказал твердо Алеша.  
"He does not love Katerina Ivanovna," Alyosha said firmly.
> Accusative object kept under negation: Note the object «Катерину Ивановну» stays accusative even though the verb is negated. A definite, specific person resists the genitive of negation, so the accusative holds — a meaningful choice over genitive «Катерины Ивановны».

— Ну, любит не любит, это я сама скоро узнаю, — с грозною ноткой в голосе проговорила Грушенька, отнимая от глаз платок.  
"Well, loves her or doesn't — I'll soon find that out for myself," Grushenka said with a menacing note in her voice, taking the handkerchief from her eyes.
> «X не X» — 'whether or not': The bare juxtaposition «любит не любит» ('loves, doesn't love') is a colloquial way of saying 'whether he loves her or not, it's all one' — a dismissive concessive, here also echoing the petal-plucking game.
> Imperfective gerund «отнимая»: «Отнимая» ('taking away') is an imperfective present gerund running parallel to «проговорила» — she speaks while drawing the handkerchief from her eyes. «От глаз» is «от» + genitive.

Лицо ее исказилось.  
Her face grew distorted.
> Reflexive «-ся» of change of state: «Исказилось» (from «исказиться») is a middle-voice «-ся» verb: the face 'became distorted' of itself, with no external agent. The short, intransitive sentence lands the abrupt transformation.

Алеша с горестью увидел, как вдруг из кроткого и тихо-веселого лицо ее стало угрюмым и злым.  
With sorrow Alyosha saw how suddenly, from being gentle and quietly cheerful, her face turned sullen and spiteful.
> «Из» + genitive → «стать» + instrumental: The transformation is framed «из X стало Y»: 'out of' the former state (genitive «кроткого и тихо-веселого») the face 'became' the new one (instrumental «угрюмым и злым» after «стать»). The instrumental is the predicate-of-becoming case.
> «Кроткий» — meek, gentle: «Кроткий» ('meek, gentle, mild') is a morally weighted word in Dostoevsky, an evangelical virtue (the «кроткие» shall inherit the earth). Its sudden loss into «угрюмый и злой» ('sullen and spiteful') measures the shadow crossing Grushenka.

— Об этих глупостях полно! — отрезала она вдруг, — не затем вовсе я и звала тебя. Алеша, голубчик, завтра-то, завтра-то что будет? Вот ведь что меня мучит! Одну только меня и мучит! Смотрю на всех, никто-то об том не думает, никому-то до этого и дела нет никакого. Думаешь ли хоть ты об этом? Завтра ведь судят! Расскажи ты мне, как его там будут судить? Ведь это лакей, лакей убил, лакей! Господи! Неужто ж его за лакея осудят, и никто-то за него не заступится? Ведь и не потревожили лакея-то вовсе, а?  
"Enough of this nonsense!" she snapped suddenly. "It's not for this at all that I called you. Alyosha, my dear, tomorrow — tomorrow, what will become of it? That's the thing that torments me! Me alone it torments! I look at everyone, and nobody gives it a thought, nobody cares a bit. Do even you give it a thought? Tomorrow they try him! Tell me, how will they try him there? Why, it was the lackey, the lackey who did the killing, the lackey! Lord! Surely they won't condemn him for the lackey, and nobody will stand up for him? Why, they never even troubled the lackey at all, did they?"
> Stacked negative pronouns + genitive of negation: «Никто… не», «никому… дела нет» pile up negative concord (ни-words plus «не»/«нет»). «Дела нет» is the genitive of negation in an existential 'there is no concern', with the experiencer in the dative «никому» — 'nobody has any care for it'.
> «Лакей» — the lackey Smerdyakov: «Лакей» is a manservant/footman, here Smerdyakov, the Karamazovs' servant whom Grushenka (rightly) names the real killer. The threefold repetition hammers the class outrage that a mere lackey should hang the crime on Mitya.
> «Неужто» + «же»: incredulous question: «Неужто» (a folksy variant of «неужели», 'surely not? / can it really be?') opens an incredulous rhetorical question, sharpened by the particle «ж» (= «же»). «За лакея» — 'on account of the lackey'.

— Его строго опрашивали, — заметил Алеша задумчиво, — но все заключили, что не он. Теперь он очень больной лежит. С тех пор болен, с той падучей. В самом деле болен, — прибавил Алеша.  
"He was strictly questioned," Alyosha remarked thoughtfully, "but everyone concluded it wasn't him. Now he's lying very ill. He's been ill ever since, ever since that falling sickness. He really is ill," Alyosha added.
> Impersonal-plural 'they' + imperfective: «Опрашивали» is a 3rd-plural verb with no stated subject — the indefinite 'they questioned him', a common impersonal device. The imperfective suits the drawn-out process of questioning, against perfective «заключили» ('concluded').
> Long vs short adjective «больной / болен»: Russian contrasts the long form «больной» (here attributive-like, the chronic invalid who lies ill) with the short predicative «болен» ('is ill', a state). Alyosha's closing «болен» asserts the bare fact of his present condition — the short form's natural job.

— Господи, да сходил бы ты к этому адвокату сам и рассказал бы дело с глазу на глаз. Ведь из Петербурга за три тысячи, говорят, выписали.  
"Lord, you ought to go to that lawyer yourself and tell him the whole thing face to face. They say they sent for him from Petersburg for three thousand."
> Conditional «бы» as soft command: Past form «сходил» + «бы» yields not a hypothetical but a gentle exhortation — 'you really ought to go'. The «бы» softens the imperative into urging advice; «к адвокату» is «к» + dative of the person visited.
> «С глазу на глаз» — face to face: A fixed idiom 'eye to eye', i.e. privately, one on one. Note the archaic stressed-«у» genitive «глазу» frozen into the phrase — a fossil of an older form preserved only in such set expressions.

— Это мы втроем дали три тысячи, я, брат Иван и Катерина Ивановна, а доктора из Москвы выписала за две тысячи уж она сама. Адвокат Фетюкович больше бы взял, да дело это получило огласку по всей России, во всех газетах и журналах о нем говорят, Фетюкович и согласился больше для славы приехать, потому что слишком уж знаменитое дело стало. Я его вчера видел.  
"The three of us put up the three thousand — I, brother Ivan, and Katerina Ivanovna — but the doctors from Moscow she sent for at two thousand on her own. The lawyer Fetyukovich would have taken more, but this case has gotten such notoriety all over Russia, they're talking about it in all the papers and journals, so Fetyukovich agreed to come more for the glory of it, because the case has become too famous. I saw him yesterday."
> «Втроем» — collective adverb: «Втроем» ('the three of us together, as a threesome') is a collective numeral adverb (cf. «вдвоем»), naming the joint agents listed after it. «Три тысячи» — accusative object, with «тысячи» genitive singular after «три».
> Conditional «бы» for an unrealized outcome: «Больше бы взял» (past «взял» + «бы») is the irrealis: 'would have taken more' [but didn't]. «Больше» is the suppletive comparative of «много/большой». The «бы» frames the counterfactual against what actually happened.

— Ну и что ж? Говорил ему? — вскинулась торопливо Грушенька.  
"Well, and what then? Did you talk to him?" Grushenka flared up hurriedly.
> Reflexive «вскинуться» of sudden movement: «Вскинуться» ('to start up, flare up') is a perfective «-ся» verb of abrupt self-directed motion — Grushenka jerks to attention. The «вс-» prefix adds the upward, sudden burst; «торопливо» ('hurriedly') colors her eagerness.

— Он выслушал и ничего не сказал. Сказал, что у него уже составилось определенное мнение. Но обещал мои слова взять в соображение.  
"He heard me out and said nothing. He said he had already formed a definite opinion. But he promised to take my words into consideration."
> Reflexive «-ся» + «у» of possession: «У него составилось мнение» — literally 'an opinion had formed itself at him', i.e. he had formed one. «Составилось» is middle-voice «-ся», and «у него» (the «у»+genitive possessive) makes him the locus rather than a grammatical agent.

— Как это в соображение! Ах они мошенники! Погубят они его! Ну, а доктора-то, доктора зачем та выписала?  
"What do you mean, into consideration! Ah, the scoundrels! They'll ruin him! Well, and the doctors — what did she send for the doctors for?"
> «Мошенник» — scoundrel, swindler: «Мошенник» is a rogue, cheat, or con-man. Grushenka flings it at the whole legal apparatus ('they'll ruin him!'), her peasant distrust of courtroom cleverness boiling over.
> Topic «-то», then «та» for the rival: «Доктора-то» foregrounds the doctors with the topic clitic «-то»; «та» ('that one [woman]') is the cold demonstrative for Katerina Ivanovna, whom Grushenka won't name. «Выписать» here is 'to send for / summon from afar'.

— Как эксперта. Хотят вывести, что брат сумасшедший и убил в помешательстве, себя не помня, — тихо улыбнулся Алеша, — только брат не согласится на это.  
"As expert witnesses. They want to bring out that my brother is mad and killed in a fit of derangement, not knowing himself," Alyosha smiled quietly, "only my brother won't agree to that."
> «Как» + accusative role: «Как эксперта» — 'as an expert [witness]' — uses «как» to assign a role, with the animate noun in the genitive-shaped accusative «эксперта». The elliptical answer omits the verb, picking up 'sent for' from the previous line.
> Gerund «не помня» + reflexive «себя»: «Не помня себя» ('not knowing/remembering himself', i.e. beside himself) is an imperfective gerund phrase with the reflexive object pronoun «себя». It is also a set idiom for acting in a frenzy, fitting the insanity defense.

— Ах, да ведь это правда, если б он убил! — воскликнула Грушенька. — Помешанный он был тогда, совсем помешанный, и это я, я, подлая, в том виновата! Только ведь он же не убил, не убил! И все-то на него, что он убил, весь город. Даже Феня и та так показала, что выходит, будто он убил. А в лавке-то, а этот чиновник, а прежде в трактире слышали! Все, все против него, так и галдят.  
"Ah, but that would be the truth, if he had killed!" Grushenka exclaimed. "He was deranged then, utterly deranged, and it's I, I, the vile creature, who am to blame for it! Only he didn't kill, didn't kill! And the whole town is against him, saying he did. Even Fenya, even she testified in such a way that it comes out as if he killed. And the shop, and that clerk, and what they heard earlier in the tavern! Everyone, everyone is against him, all clamoring away."
> Counterfactual «если б» exclamation: «Если б [бы] он убил» (past + reduced «б») is contrary-to-fact: 'if he had [actually] killed'. The exclamatory conditional voices Grushenka's anguished 'if only that were the truth' — the very thing she insists is false.
> «Подлая» — vile, base: «Подлый» means base, mean, contemptible; Grushenka brands herself «подлая» ('vile creature') in a spasm of self-accusation. The noun-like use of the adjective, set off in apposition to «я», intensifies the self-flagellation.
> «Галдеть» — to clamor: «Галдеть» is an expressive, slightly contemptuous verb for a noisy babble of many voices all at once. The imperfective «галдят» paints the whole town as an ongoing din of accusation against Mitya.

— Да, показания ужасно умножились, — угрюмо заметил Алеша.  
"Yes, the evidence has multiplied dreadfully," Alyosha remarked grimly.
> «Показание» — testimony, deposition: «Показание» is a witness's formal statement or testimony (from «показать», 'to show/depose'). «Показания умножились» — 'the testimony has multiplied' — is the legal register threading through this trial-eve conversation.

— А Григорий-то, Григорий-то Васильич, ведь стоит на своем, что дверь была отперта, ломит на своем, что видел, не собьешь его, я к нему бегала, сама с ним говорила. Ругается еще!  
"And Grigory — Grigory Vasilyich — why, he sticks to his story that the door was open, he hammers away that he saw it, you can't budge him; I ran to him, talked with him myself. He even curses!"
> «Стоять/ломить на своем» — to stick to one's story: «Стоять на своем» and the rougher «ломить на своем» are idioms for obstinately holding one's ground; «не собьешь его» ('you can't knock him off [it]') is the perfective future used impersonally ('one can't budge him'). The cluster paints Grigory's mulish certainty.

— Да, это, может быть, самое сильное показание против брата, — проговорил Алеша.  
"Yes, that may be the strongest piece of evidence against my brother," Alyosha said.
> Superlative with «самый»: «Самое сильное» is the periphrastic superlative — «самый» ('the most') declining with the adjective «сильное» to agree with neuter «показание». 'The strongest piece of evidence', the bookish-neutral way to form a superlative.

— А про то, что Митя помешанный, так он и теперь точно таков, — с каким-то особенно озабоченным и таинственным видом начала вдруг Грушенька. — Знаешь, Алешенька, давно я хотела тебе про это сказать: хожу к нему каждый день и просто дивлюсь. Скажи ты мне, как ты думаешь: об чем это он теперь начал всё говорить? Заговорит, заговорит — ничего понимать не могу, думаю, это он об чем умном, ну я глупая, не понять мне, думаю; только стал он мне вдруг говорить про дитё, то есть про дитятю какого-то, «зачем, дескать, бедно дитё?» «За дитё-то это я теперь и в Сибирь пойду, я не убил, но мне надо в Сибирь пойти!» Что это такое, какое такое дитё — ничегошеньки не поняла. Только расплакалась, как он говорил, потому очень уж он хорошо это говорил, сам плачет, и я заплакала, он меня вдруг и поцеловал и рукой перекрестил. Что это такое, Алеша, расскажи ты мне, какое это «дитё»?  
"And as for Mitya being deranged — why, he's just like that even now," Grushenka began suddenly with a peculiarly troubled and mysterious air. "You know, Alyoshenka, I've long wanted to tell you about this: I go to him every day and I'm simply amazed. Tell me, what do you think — what is it he's now begun talking about all the time? He starts talking and talking — and I can't understand a thing; I think, it's something clever he means, well, I'm a fool, it's not for me to understand, I think; only suddenly he started telling me about a babe, that is, about some little babe, 'why,' says he, 'is the poor babe?' 'It's for the babe's sake that I'll go to Siberia now; I didn't kill, but I must go to Siberia!' What is that, what sort of a babe — I understood not the least little thing. Only I burst out crying as he spoke, because he said it so well, weeping himself, and I wept too, and suddenly he kissed me and made the sign of the cross over me with his hand. What is that, Alyosha, tell me — what is this 'babe'?"
> "Дитё" — the babe: Дитё is a colloquial, tender form of дитя ("child"); дитятя is a folksy diminutive Grushenka adds. Mitya's cryptic talk of the "poor babe" (бедно дитё) refers to the dream of the starving child from Book IX, the moral vision that turns him toward accepting Siberia. We keep the archaic, tender flavor with "babe."
> Inceptive «за-» + repetition for habit: «Заговорит» (perfective, prefix «за-» = 'starts to speak') doubled evokes his recurring outbursts; «ничего… не могу» is negative concord. The mix of inceptive perfectives and helpless imperfective «понимать» dramatizes her bafflement.
> «Ничегошеньки» — not the teeniest thing: «Ничегошеньки» is «ничего» with a doubled affectionate-emphatic diminutive «-шеньки», an intensely colloquial 'not the least little bit'. The cooing suffix on a negative is pure spoken Grushenka.

— Это к нему Ракитин почему-то повадился ходить, — улыбнулся Алеша, — впрочем… это не от Ракитина. Я у него вчера не был, сегодня буду.  
"It's Rakitin who's taken to visiting him for some reason," Alyosha smiled, "though… this isn't from Rakitin. I wasn't with him yesterday; I'll go today."
> «Повадиться» + imperfective infinitive: «Повадиться ходить» ('to get into the habit of visiting') is a reflexive «-ся» verb of acquired habit, taking an imperfective infinitive for the repeated action. Slightly disapproving in tone — Rakitin keeps turning up.

— Нет, это не Ракитка, это его брат Иван Федорович смущает, это он к нему ходит, вот что… — проговорила Грушенька и вдруг как бы осеклась.  
"No, it's not Rakitka, it's his brother Ivan Fyodorovich who's unsettling him, he's the one who visits him, that's what…" Grushenka said, and suddenly seemed to break off.
> «Ракитка» — the belittling «-ка»: Grushenka clips Rakitin to «Ракитка», the «-ка» suffix here familiar-contemptuous, brushing him aside as she names the real influence. The form itself dismisses him.
> Reflexive «осечься» + hedging «как бы»: «Осеклась» (perfective «-ся» of «осечься», 'to stop short, falter in speech') marks her sudden self-arrest. «Как бы» ('as if, sort of') is the narrator's hedge — she 'seemed' to break off, sensing she has said too much about Ivan.

Алеша уставился на нее как пораженный.  
Alyosha stared at her as though thunderstruck.
> Past passive participle «пораженный» as predicate: «Уставиться на» ('to stare fixedly at') is reflexive «-ся». «Как пораженный» ('as though struck/thunderstruck') uses a past passive participle adjectivally — 'as one struck' — agreeing with Alyosha in the nominative.

— Как ходит? Да разве он ходил к нему? Митя мне сам говорил, что Иван ни разу не приходил!  
"What do you mean, visits? Has he really been visiting him? Mitya told me himself that Ivan hadn't come even once!"
> «Разве» — incredulous 'really?': «Разве» opens a question of astonished disbelief ('do you mean to say he really visited?'), expecting that the answer overturns what the speaker assumed. The imperfective «ходил» asks about the fact of visiting at all.
> «Ни разу… не» — not even once: «Ни разу не приходил» is negative concord — «ни разу» ('not a single time') + «не» — emphatically denying any visit. The imperfective «приходил» negates the occurrence itself.

— Ну… ну, вот я какая! Проболталась! — воскликнула Грушенька в смущении, вся вдруг зарумянившись. — Стой, Алеша, молчи, так и быть, коль уж проболталась, всю правду скажу: он у него два раза был, первый раз только что он тогда приехал — тогда же ведь он сейчас из Москвы и прискакал, я еще и слечь не успела, а другой раз приходил неделю назад. Мите-то он не велел об том тебе сказывать, отнюдь не велел, да и никому не велел сказывать, потаенно приходил.  
"Well… well, there I go! I've let it slip!" Grushenka exclaimed in confusion, suddenly flushing all over. "Wait, Alyosha, hush, so be it, since I've already let it slip I'll tell the whole truth: he's been to him twice — the first time just after he'd arrived back then — that was when he came galloping straight from Moscow, before I'd even taken to my bed — and the other time he came a week ago. Mitya told him not to tell you about it, told him absolutely not to, and not to tell anyone either; he came in secret."
> «Проболтаться» — to blurt out a secret: «Проболтаться» (reflexive «-ся», prefix «про-») means to let something slip, blab inadvertently. Grushenka's self-catching cry 'I've let it slip!' confesses her own loose tongue in the same breath.
> «Так и быть» + archaic «коль»: «Так и быть» is a fixed concessive 'so be it, very well then'. «Коль» (a clipped folk-archaic «если», 'since/if'), reinforced by «уж», resigns her to confessing now that the cat is out.
> «Велеть» + infinitive; archaic «сказывать»: «Не велел сказывать» — 'ordered [him] not to tell'; «велеть» takes a dative addressee and an infinitive. «Сказывать» is a folk-archaic synonym of «говорить/сказать», and «потаенно» ('secretly') belongs to the same elevated-old register coloring Mitya's clandestine arrangement.

Алеша сидел в глубокой задумчивости и что-то соображал.  
Alyosha sat in deep thought, turning something over in his mind.
> Indefinite «что-то» + imperfective musing: «Что-то» ('something [specific but unspecified]') uses the «-то» that marks a real-but-unnamed referent. The imperfective «соображал» ('was working out') views his mental effort as an ongoing process.

Известие видимо его поразило.  
The news had plainly struck him.
> Perfective «поразить» of a single blow: «Поразило» (perfective) registers a single, completed effect — the news 'struck' him at one stroke. The neuter subject «известие» is fronted, the object «его» tucked before the verb in the unmarked given-new flow.

— Брат Иван об Митином деле со мной не говорит, — проговорил он медленно, — да и вообще со мною он во все эти два месяца очень мало говорил, а когда я приходил к нему, то всегда бывал недоволен, что я пришел, так что я три недели к нему уже не хожу. Гм… Если он был неделю назад, то… за эту неделю в Мите действительно произошла какая-то перемена…  
"Brother Ivan does not talk to me about Mitya's case," he said slowly, "and indeed he has spoken to me very little at all these two months, and whenever I came to him he was always displeased that I had come, so that I haven't gone to him for three weeks now. Hm… If he was there a week ago, then… over this week some sort of change has really come over Mitya…"
> Imperfective for habitual scarcity + «-ою» form: The imperfective «говорил» frames a sustained state over two months ('spoke very little with me'). «Со мною» shows the older instrumental pronoun ending «-ою»; modern Russian prefers «со мной».
> Iterative «бывал» + short adjective «недоволен»: «Бывал» (iterative imperfective of «быть») means 'used to be, would repeatedly be'. The short-form predicative adjective «недоволен» ('displeased') states the recurring mood — the short form is the predicate-only one.
> Indefinite «какая-то» + perfective change: «Какая-то перемена» — 'some sort of change' — pairs the «-то» indefinite (a real but unidentified change) with feminine agreement. «Произошла» is perfective: a change has come about as a completed fact.

— Перемена, перемена! — быстро подхватила Грушенька. — У них секрет, у них был секрет! Митя мне сам сказал, что секрет, и, знаешь, такой секрет, что Митя и успокоиться не может. А ведь прежде был веселый, да он и теперь веселый, только, знаешь, когда начнет этак головой мотать, да по комнате шагать, а вот этим правым пальцем себе тут на виске волосы теребить, то уж я и знаю, что у него что-то беспокойное на душе… я уж знаю!.. А то был веселый; да и сегодня веселый!  
"A change, a change!" Grushenka caught it up quickly. "They have a secret, they had a secret! Mitya told me himself there's a secret, and, you know, such a secret that Mitya can't even calm himself. And before he used to be cheerful — well, he's cheerful even now too — only, you know, when he starts tossing his head like that, and pacing the room, and tugging at the hair here on his temple with this right finger, then I just know there's something troubled on his soul… I just know it!.. But before he was cheerful; and even today he's cheerful!"
> Instrumental of the limb + «по» + dative: «Мотать головой» ('to shake one's head') puts the body part in the instrumental «головой» — the means of the motion. «По комнате» ('about the room') uses «по» + dative for wandering movement over a space.
> «Теребить» — to fidget, tug: «Теребить» means to pluck or worry at something fitfully with the fingers. The minute physical tic — tugging the hair at his temple («на виске») — is Dostoevsky's way of bodying forth Mitya's inner unrest, which Grushenka reads like a barometer.

— А ты сказала: раздражен?  
"But you said he was on edge?"
> Short adjective «раздражен»: «Раздражен» is the short predicative form ('is irritated / on edge'), the only form that can stand as a bare predicate. Alyosha quotes her word back as a one-word question, the «А» a soft conversational pivot.

— Да он и раздражен, да веселый. Он и всё раздражен, да на минутку, а там веселый, а потом вдруг опять раздражен. И знаешь, Алеша, всё я на него дивлюсь: впереди такой страх, а он даже иной раз таким пустякам хохочет, точно сам-то дитя.  
"He's on edge, yes, and cheerful too. He's on edge all the time, yes, but just for a minute, and then he's cheerful, and then suddenly on edge again. And you know, Alyosha, I keep wondering at him: such terror ahead, yet sometimes he even laughs at the silliest trifles, just like a child himself."
> Reflexive «дивиться» + «на» of wonder: «Дивиться на кого» ('to marvel/wonder at') is a reflexive «-ся» verb governing «на» + accusative. «Всё» here is adverbial 'continually, still' — she keeps marveling at him.
> «Точно» 'just like' + topic «-то»: «Точно» here is the comparative 'exactly like, as if' (not 'precisely'). «Сам-то дитя» — 'a very child himself', with «сам» ('himself') foregrounded by the topic clitic «-то». The image rounds off the portrait of Mitya's childlike volatility.

— И это правда, что он мне не велел говорить про Ивана? Так и сказал: не говори?  
"And is it true that he forbade you to tell me about Ivan? Did he really say: don't tell?"
> «Велеть» with dative + negated infinitive: «Велеть» governs a dative addressee «мне» and an infinitive «говорить»; negated, «не велел говорить» = 'forbade [me] to speak'. «Про Ивана» ('about Ivan') uses «про» + accusative, a colloquial alternative to «о».

— Так и сказал: не говори. Тебя-то он, главное, и боится, Митя-то. Потому тут секрет, сам сказал, что секрет… Алеша, голубчик, сходи, выведай: какой это такой у них секрет, да и приди мне сказать, — вскинулась и взмолилась вдруг Грушенька, — пореши ты меня, бедную, чтоб уж знала я мою участь проклятую! С тем и звала тебя.  
"He did say: don't tell. It's you most of all he's afraid of, Mitya is. Because there's a secret here — he said himself there's a secret… Alyosha, my dear, go, find out: what is this secret of theirs, and come and tell me, — Grushenka flared up and suddenly began to plead, — settle it for me, poor thing that I am, so that I may at last know my accursed fate! That's what I called you for."
> Fronted object + «и» focus + «бояться» + genitive: «Бояться» ('to fear', a «-ся»-only verb) governs the genitive, here «тебя». The object is thrown to the front with topic «-то» and focal «и» — 'it's you above all he fears' — a textbook information-structuring inversion.
> Chained perfective imperatives: Grushenka pleads in a run of perfective imperatives: «сходи» ('go [there and back]'), «выведай» ('find out, ferret out'), «приди… сказать» ('come [to] tell me'). The perfective imperative urges a single decisive errand.
> «Участь» — fate, lot: «Участь» is one's appointed lot or destiny, a bookish-elevated word weightier than everyday «судьба». «Проклятая участь» ('accursed fate') lifts Grushenka's plea into near-tragic register as she begs to know her doom.

— Ты думаешь, что это про тебя что-нибудь? Так ведь тогда бы он не сказал при тебе про секрет.  
"You think it's something about you? But then he wouldn't have spoken about the secret in front of you."
> Counterfactual «бы» reasoning: «Тогда бы он не сказал» (past + «бы») argues from a hypothetical: 'in that case he wouldn't have spoken'. Alyosha reasons by counterfactual — the conditional «бы» without an explicit «если». «При тебе» — 'in your presence', «при» + prepositional.
> Non-specific «-нибудь»: «Что-нибудь» ('something or other, anything') uses «-нибудь» for a non-specific referent — 'is it something [whatever it might be] about you?' — contrasting with the specific «что-то» elsewhere in the chapter.

— Не знаю. Может, мне-то он и хочет сказать, да не смеет. Предупреждает. Секрет, дескать, есть, а какой секрет — не сказал.  
"I don't know. Maybe he does want to tell me, but doesn't dare. He's warning me. There's a secret, he says, but what secret — he didn't say."
> Topic «-то» + focal «и» + contrastive «да»: «Мне-то… и хочет сказать» foregrounds 'me' with topic «-то» and focal «и» — 'me he does want to tell'. «Да не смеет» uses «да» as the contrastive 'but' — '…but doesn't dare'. The particles carry her shaded guesswork.

— Ты сама-то что же думаешь?  
"And what do you yourself think it is?"
> Intensive «сама» + «же» insistence: «Сама» ('[you] yourself') intensifies the pronoun, and «что же думаешь» uses the insistent particle «же» to press — 'but what do you yourself think?' Topic «-то» on «сама» nudges the focus onto her own opinion.

— А что думаю? Конец мне пришел, вот что думаю. Конец мне они все трое приготовили, потому что тут Катька. Всё это Катька, от нее и идет. «Такая она и сякая», значит, это я не такая. Это он вперед говорит, вперед меня предупреждает. Бросить он меня замыслил, вот и весь тут секрет! Втроем это и придумали — Митька, Катька да Иван Федорович. Алеша, хотела я тебя спросить давно: неделю назад он мне вдруг и открывает, что Иван влюблен в Катьку, потому что часто к ней ходит. Правду он это мне сказал или нет? Говори по совести, режь меня.  
"What do I think? It's the end of me, that's what I think. The end is what the three of them have prepared for me, because Katka is in it. It's all Katka — it all comes from her. 'She's this and she's that,' meaning I'm not like that. He's saying it in advance, warning me in advance. He's resolved to abandon me — there's the whole secret! The three of them thought it up — Mitka, Katka, and Ivan Fyodorovich. Alyosha, I've long wanted to ask you something: a week ago he suddenly comes out and tells me Ivan is in love with Katka, because he visits her so often. Did he tell me the truth or not? Tell me on your conscience, cut me to the quick."
> Dative of the one it befalls: «Конец мне пришел» — 'the end has come for me', literally 'an end came to me' — places the affected person in the dative «мне». Russian frames doom impersonally, the disaster arriving 'to' the experiencer.
> Scornful «-ка» names vs. the full triad: The contempt is built into the morphology: Mitya and Katya are cut down to dismissive «Митька, Катька», while Ivan keeps his dignified name-and-patronymic «Иван Федорович». The mismatch of name-forms is itself characterization of how Grushenka ranks the three.
> Imperatives + idiom «режь меня»: Two imperatives close the plea: «говори» ('speak') and the imperative «режь» ('cut [me]'), here figurative — 'cut me to the quick, give it to me straight'. «По совести» ('in conscience, honestly') is «по» + dative.

— Я тебе не солгу. Иван в Катерину Ивановну не влюблен, так я думаю.  
"I won't lie to you. Ivan is not in love with Katerina Ivanovna, so I think."
> Perfective future «солгу»: «Солгу» is the perfective future of «солгать/лгать» ('to lie'), in present-form: 'I will not [tell a] lie [to you]'. «Тебе» is the dative addressee. Alyosha's flat future-tense promise of honesty.
> Short adjective «влюблен» + «в» of object: «Влюблен в кого» ('in love with') uses the short predicative participle/adjective «влюблен» plus «в» + accusative for the beloved. Negated, «не влюблен» states the bare fact — the short form's predicate role.

— Ну, так и я тогда же подумала! Лжет он мне, бесстыжий, вот что! И приревновал он теперь меня, чтобы потом на меня свалить. Ведь он дурак, ведь он не умеет концов хоронить, откровенный он ведь такой… Только я ж ему, я ж ему! «Ты, говорит, веришь, что я убил», — это мне-то он говорит, мне-то, это меня-то он тем попрекнул! Бог с ним! Ну постой, плохо этой Катьке будет от меня на суде! Я там одно такое словечко скажу… Я там уж всё скажу!  
"Well, that's just what I thought then, too! He's lying to me, the shameless one, that's what! And now he's gotten jealous over me so as to lay the blame on me later. Why, he's a fool, he doesn't know how to hide his tracks, he's so open about everything… Only I'll give it to him, I will! 'Do you,' he says, 'believe that I killed' — that's what he says to me, to me, that's what he reproached me with! God be with him! Well, just wait — that Katka will fare badly with me at the trial! I'll say just one little word there… I'll tell everything there!"
> Purpose «чтобы» + perfective infinitive: «Чтобы… свалить» ('so as to dump/pin [it] on me') is a purpose clause; with a same-subject infinitive «чтобы» governs the bare infinitive rather than a past form. «Свалить на кого» ('to shift blame onto') takes «на» + accusative.
> Genitive object idiom «хоронить концы»: «Хоронить концы» (literally 'to bury the [rope-]ends') is an idiom for covering one's tracks; «концов» appears in the genitive here under the negated «не умеет». The folksy image fits Grushenka's shrewd read of guileless Mitya.
> Aposiopesis with insistent «ж»: The unfinished threat «я ж ему!» ('I'll show him!') trails off — the verb suppressed for menace. «Ж» (= «же») drives the insistence, the breaking-off (aposiopesis) leaving the retaliation to the imagination.
> «Словечко» — the loaded little word: «Словечко» is the diminutive of «слово» ('word'), but here it is menacing, not cute — 'just one little word' she could drop at the trial to undo Katka. The diminutive sharpens the threat by its mock-casualness.

И опять она горько заплакала.  
And again she wept bitterly.
> Inceptive perfective «заплакать»: «Заплакала» (prefix «за-» + «плакать») is the inceptive perfective 'burst into tears, began to cry'. The «за-» of onset is one of Russian's commonest ways to mark the start of an action as a single event.

— Вот что я тебе могу твердо объявить, Грушенька, — сказал, вставая с места, Алеша, — первое то, что он тебя любит, любит более всех на свете, и одну тебя, в этом ты мне верь. Я знаю. Уж я знаю. Второе то скажу тебе, что я секрета выпытывать от него не хочу, а если сам мне скажет сегодня, то прямо скажу ему, что тебе обещался сказать. Тогда приду к тебе сегодня же и скажу. Только… кажется мне… нет тут Катерины Ивановны и в помине, а это про другое про что-нибудь этот секрет. И это наверно так. И не похоже совсем, чтобы про Катерину Ивановну, так мне сдается. А пока прощай!  
"Here is what I can firmly declare to you, Grushenka," Alyosha said, rising from his place. "First, that he loves you — loves you more than anyone in the world, and you alone; in this you must believe me. I know it. I do know it. Second, I'll tell you that I don't want to wring the secret out of him; but if he tells me himself today, I'll say to him outright that I promised to tell you. Then I'll come to you this very day and tell you. Only… it seems to me… there's no trace of Katerina Ivanovna in this; the secret is about something else. And surely that's how it is. It doesn't look at all as if it were about Katerina Ivanovna — so it seems to me. But for now, goodbye!"
> Imperfective gerund «вставая»: «Вставая» ('rising, getting up') is an imperfective present gerund framing the simultaneous action behind his speech — he speaks as he rises. «С места» ('from his place') is «с» + genitive.
> Comparative «более всех» = superlative sense: «Более всех» ('more than everyone') uses the comparative «более» with a genitive of comparison «всех» to yield superlative meaning — he loves her above all others. A common way Russian builds 'the most' from a comparative.
> Real conditional «если… то» + perfective future: Unlike the «бы» counterfactuals, this is a real (open) condition: «если скажет, то скажу» — both perfective futures, 'if he tells me, then I'll tell'. The «если… то» frame pairs a genuine condition with its consequence.
> Genitive of negation in «нет… и в помине»: «Нет и в помине» ('there's not a trace, not so much as a mention') is an emphatic existential negation; its subject obligatorily takes the genitive — «нет Катерины Ивановны». The idiom flatly denies her any part in the secret.

Алеша пожал ей руку.  
Alyosha pressed her hand.
> Dative «ей» + accusative «руку»: The perfective «пожал» (he pressed/shook) takes the thing pressed in the accusative, «руку», while the person whose hand it is stands in the dative «ей» — literally 'pressed to-her the hand'. Russian routinely marks the affected possessor of a body part with a dative rather than a possessive pronoun.
> Perfective past for a single act: «пожал» is the perfective past of «пожимать/пожать»: one completed gesture, viewed as a whole, moving the narrative forward a single step. An imperfective «пожимал» would have made it lingering or repeated.

Грушенька всё еще плакала.  
Grushenka was still weeping.
> Imperfective «плакала» = ongoing state: The imperfective past «плакала» paints weeping as a process still under way, reinforced by «всё ещё» ('still', 'all this while'). This is background description, not a single event — exactly what the imperfective is for.

Он видел, что она его утешениям очень мало поверила, но и то уж было ей хорошо, что хоть горе сорвала, высказалась.  
He saw that she had put very little faith in his words of comfort, yet it had done her good all the same merely to have let her grief break loose, to have spoken it out.
> «поверить» governs the dative: The verb «поверить» ('to believe, give credence to') takes its object in the dative, here «его утешениям» ('his words of comfort'). So she did not believe to his comforts — the case, not word order, tells you who trusted what.
> Two «что»-clauses: report vs. anticipated content: The subordinator «что» opens both the reported perception («что она... поверила») and the delayed-subject clause that «то» points forward to («что хоть горе сорвала»). Each dependent clause is set off by a comma, the standard Russian frame.
> Dative-experiencer impersonal «ей хорошо»: There is no nominative subject here: the person who feels stands in the dative «ей», and the predicate is the invariable «хорошо» with neuter past «было» — 'it did her good / she felt better'. This experiencer-first frame is one of Dostoevsky's favourite ways into a character's inner state.
> Perfectives «сорвала» and reflexive «высказалась»: Two perfective pasts name the relief as accomplished wholes: «сорвала» (vented, literally 'tore off' her grief) and the reflexive «высказалась» ('spoke herself out'). The «-ся/-сь» on «высказалась» turns the act inward — to unburden oneself by speaking — rather than taking an external object.
> «сорвать горе» — to vent one's grief: «сорвать» literally means to tear or pluck off; paired with «горе» (grief) it is an expressive idiom for letting pent-up sorrow burst out. The image is of grief ripped loose rather than merely 'expressed'.
> Particle «уж» softening and insisting: Here «уж» (a worn-down «уже») is less 'already' than an emphatic, conceding particle — 'all the same', 'at any rate' — colouring the clause with the narrator's reassuring tone. Such modal particles carry attitude that English must render with stress or added phrasing.

Жалко ему было оставлять ее в таком состоянии, но он спешил.  
He was sorry to leave her in such a state, but he was in a hurry.
> Impersonal «жалко ему было» + infinitive: Another subjectless construction: the experiencer «ему» is dative, the predicate the invariable «жалко» ('it was a pity / he was loath'), with neuter «было», and the source of the feeling is the imperfective infinitive «оставлять» ('to be leaving'). Fronting «жалко» throws the emotional weight to the head of the sentence.
> Prepositional «в... состоянии» of state: «в таком состоянии» ('in such a state') stands in the prepositional case after «в» marking location/condition, with the demonstrative «таком» agreeing in case, gender, and number with «состоянии».
> Contrastive «но» and imperfective «спешил»: «но» sets the pity against the haste, and the imperfective past «спешил» ('he was hurrying') gives the haste as an ongoing condition, not a single act — the standing pressure under which Alyosha acts.

Предстояло ему еще много дела.  
He still had a great deal to do.
> Impersonal «предстояло ему» — what lay ahead: The neuter «предстояло» ('there lay before / was in store') runs impersonally, with the dative «ему» naming the one it faced. There is again no nominative subject; the thing awaiting him is expressed quantitatively below.
> Genitive after «много»: Quantity words like «много» govern the genitive: «дела» here is genitive singular of «дело» ('business, matter'), giving 'much to do'. The quantifier-plus-genitive is the standard way Russian counts uncountable amounts.
> Verb-first inversion for emphasis: Opening with the verb «предстояло» and ending on the new information «много дела» follows Russian's topic-comment rhythm: what is given (the awaiting) comes first, the weighty news — how much work — lands last.
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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.