# The Brothers Karamazov, The Medical Experts and a Pound of Nuts

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book XII — A Judicial Error

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b12-c3. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b12-c3.json.


Медицинская экспертиза тоже не очень помогла подсудимому.  
The medical testimony, too, did not do the defendant much good.
> Dative object of «помочь»: «Помочь» governs the dative, so the person helped — «подсудимому» (the defendant) — stands in the dative, not the accusative. The negated perfective past «не помогла» reports the medical testimony as one completed, failed act.
> «подсудимый» — the one on trial: A substantivized adjective (literally 'the one under trial', from «суд» court): it declines like an adjective but functions as a noun, 'the defendant'. It recurs throughout the courtroom chapters as Mitya's official designation.

Да и сам Фетюкович, кажется, не очень на нее рассчитывал, что и оказалось впоследствии.  
And Fetyukovich himself, it seems, had not counted on it for much — as in fact proved to be the case afterward.
> Relative «что» summing up the whole clause: Here «что» is not 'that' introducing a noun-clause but a relative pronoun whose antecedent is the entire preceding statement: 'which is exactly what proved to be the case later'. The added particle «и» ('indeed, in fact') reinforces the confirmation.
> «рассчитывать на» + accusative: «Рассчитывать на что-то» ('to count on something') takes «на» plus the accusative; «нее» is the accusative of «она», referring back to the «экспертиза». After a preposition the third-person pronoun takes the prefixed «н-» form.

В основании своем она произошла единственно по настоянию Катерины Ивановны, вызвавшей нарочно знаменитого доктора из Москвы.  
At bottom it had come about solely at the insistence of Katerina Ivanovna, who had deliberately summoned a celebrated doctor from Moscow.
> Past active participle «вызвавшей»: «Вызвавшей» is the past active participle of perfective «вызвать» ('having summoned'), agreeing in the genitive feminine with «Катерины Ивановны». It compresses a «которая вызвала» relative clause into a single bookish modifier — a hallmark of Dostoevsky's narrative syntax.
> «по» + dative of cause: «По настоянию» ('at the insistence of') uses «по» with the dative «настоянию» to express the grounds or motivation behind an action — a common formula for 'on the basis of / owing to'.
> «нарочно» — on purpose: An adverb meaning 'deliberately, expressly'; here Katerina Ivanovna summoned the celebrated doctor 'specially' for the trial. Not to be confused with the false friend «наро́читый» (ostentatious).

Защита, конечно, ничего не могла через нее проиграть, а в лучшем случае могла что-нибудь и выиграть.  
The defense, of course, could lose nothing through it, and in the best case might even gain something.
> Genitive «ничего» under negation: «Ничего» is the genitive of «ничто», the negative pronoun, with the verb still carrying «не» — Russian's obligatory negative concord ('could lose nothing'). The genitive form here also reflects the genitive that a negated object naturally takes.
> Indefinite «что-нибудь»: «Что-нибудь» ('something, anything') is the non-specific indefinite built from «что» + «-нибудь»: an unspecified gain that might or might not materialize, contrasting neatly with the flat «ничего» (nothing) of the first clause.

Впрочем, отчасти вышло даже как бы нечто комическое, именно по некоторому разногласию докторов.  
As it turned out, however, something almost comic came of it, owing precisely to a certain disagreement among the doctors.
> Impersonal «вышло» + «нечто»: «Вышло» ('it came out, it turned out') is used impersonally, neuter, with no nominative subject driving it. «Нечто» is the indeclinable 'something' (here something comic), and «как бы» softens it to 'something almost like'.
> «впрочем» — the narrator's hinge: A constant discourse marker in this chronicle voice: 'however, by the way, then again'. It signals the narrator qualifying or backtracking on what he has just said, a tic of Dostoevsky's chatty provincial chronicler.
> «по» + dative of cause again: Again «по» with the dative expresses cause: 'owing to a certain disagreement'. «Именно» ('precisely') points the causal phrase like a finger.

Экспертами явились: приехавший знаменитый доктор, затем наш доктор Герценштубе и, наконец, молодой врач Варвинский.  
The experts who appeared were these: the celebrated doctor who had come from Moscow, then our own Doctor Herzenstube, and finally the young physician Varvinsky.
> Instrumental predicate with «явиться»: «Явиться» ('to appear, to turn out to be') takes its predicate complement in the instrumental: «экспертами» frames 'the experts' as the role in which these men appeared. Fronting it before the verb throws the new information — who they were — to the end.
> Past active participle «приехавший»: «Приехавший» is the past active participle of «приехать» ('the doctor who had come'), agreeing nominative-masculine with «доктор». It packs the relative clause 'who had arrived from Moscow' into a single adjectival word before the noun.

Оба последние фигурировали тоже и как просто свидетели, вызванные прокурором.  
The last two also figured simply as witnesses, called by the prosecutor.
> Past passive participle + instrumental agent: «Вызванные» is the long-form past passive participle ('summoned, called'), agreeing with «свидетели»; the agent who did the summoning, «прокурором» (the prosecutor), stands in the instrumental — the regular way Russian names the doer in a passive.
> «фигурировать» — a bookish loanword: A Latinate verb ('to figure, to appear in a certain capacity'), faintly official and bureaucratic in tone — apt for describing how the two doctors 'figured also simply as witnesses' in the legal proceedings.

Первым спрошен был в качестве эксперта доктор Герценштубе.  
The first to be questioned in the capacity of expert was Doctor Herzenstube.
> Short passive participle «спрошен»: «Спрошен был» is the periphrastic past passive: the short-form participle «спрошен» ('questioned') plus «был». The ordinal «первым» stands in the instrumental ('as the first'), and the whole thing is inverted for rhetorical weight — 'The first to be questioned was...'
> «в качестве» + genitive: The set phrase «в качестве» ('in the capacity of, as') governs the genitive «эксперта». It is the formal, written equivalent of 'acting as an expert'.

Это был семидесятилетний старик, седой и плешивый, среднего роста, крепкого сложения.  
He was an old man of seventy, gray-haired and bald, of middle height and sturdy build.
> Genitive of description: «Среднего роста» ('of middle height') and «крепкого сложения» ('of sturdy build') are genitives of quality, a compact way to attach physical attributes to a person — 'a man of X height, of Y build'. Dostoevsky stacks them in a portrait shorthand.
> «плешивый» — bald: 'Bald, with a bald patch' (from «плешь», a bald spot). More colloquial and visual than the neutral «лысый», it sketches the seventy-year-old doctor's thin gray-and-balding head.

Его все у нас в городе очень ценили и уважали.  
Everyone in our town held him in great esteem and respect.
> Object-first word order: The accusative object «его» ('him') opens the sentence ahead of the subject «все» (everyone), making the doctor the topic and throwing emphasis onto the verbs of esteem. Free word order, licensed by the cases, lets Russian lead with what is already in view.
> «у нас» — the chronicler's 'our town': «У нас» ('with us, among us, in our parts') sets the narrator firmly inside the provincial community he is describing. The phrase recurs as the signature of the local-eyewitness narrator who tells the whole novel as 'our' affair.

Был он врач добросовестный, человек прекрасный и благочестивый, какой-то гернгутер или «моравский брат» — уж не знаю наверно.  
He was a conscientious physician, an excellent and devout man, some sort of Herrnhuter or "Moravian Brother" — I cannot say for certain.
> Inversion and zero copula: «Был он врач...» inverts verb and subject for narrative weight, and the predicate nouns «врач», «человек» stand in the bare nominative — the past «был» here behaves almost like the zero copula, naming a settled, characterizing identity rather than a temporary role.
> «благочестивый» — devout: 'Pious, devout' (from «благо» good + «честь» honour), a solemn, slightly elevated adjective fit for religious character. It marks Herzenstube's earnest Protestant piety.

Жил у нас уже очень давно и держал себя с чрезвычайным достоинством.  
He had lived among us a very long time already and carried himself with extraordinary dignity.
> Reflexive «себя» + instrumental of manner: «Держать себя» ('to carry/conduct oneself') uses the full reflexive pronoun «себя» as object. «С чрезвычайным достоинством» — «с» + instrumental — gives the manner, 'with extraordinary dignity'.

Он был добр и человеколюбив, лечил бедных больных и крестьян даром, сам ходил в их конуры и избы и оставлял деньги на лекарство, но притом был и упрям, как мул.  
He was kind and humane, treated the poor and the peasants for nothing, went himself into their hovels and huts, and left money behind for medicine — yet for all that he was stubborn as a mule.
> Imperfective past of habit: The string of imperfective past verbs «лечил... ходил... оставлял» paints the doctor's standing habits — repeated, characteristic action — rather than single events. This is the imperfective doing its descriptive, background work.
> «даром» — for free: An adverb (frozen instrumental of «дар», gift) meaning 'gratis, for nothing'; the doctor treated the poor «даром». It can also mean 'in vain', so context decides.
> «конуры» and «избы» — hovels and huts: «Конура» is literally a dog-kennel, here figuratively a wretched cramped dwelling; «изба» is the traditional peasant log hut. The pairing stresses the squalor into which the kind doctor personally went.
> «упрям, как мул» — stubborn as a mule: A short-form predicate adjective «упрям» in a fixed simile, 'stubborn as a mule'. The short form here states a fixed trait, capping the warm portrait with a comic flaw.

Сбить его с его идеи, если она засела у него в голове, было невозможно.  
To knock him off an idea, once it had lodged itself in his head, was impossible.
> Infinitive subject + impersonal predicate: The infinitive phrase «сбить его с его идеи» ('to knock him off his idea') serves as the logical subject, and «было невозможно» is the impersonal neuter predicate. Russian readily makes an impersonal statement of (im)possibility about an action named by a bare infinitive.
> Perfective «засела» — once it had lodged: «Засела» is the perfective past of «засесть» ('to lodge firmly, get stuck'): a single completed event — the idea once it had taken hold. The «если» here is nearly temporal, 'once / whenever it had lodged'.

Кстати, уже всем почти было известно в городе, что приезжий знаменитый врач в какие-нибудь два-три дня своего у нас пребывания позволил себе несколько чрезвычайно обидных отзывов насчет дарований доктора Герценштубе.  
Incidentally, almost everyone in town already knew that the visiting celebrated physician, in the two or three days of his stay among us, had permitted himself several extremely cutting remarks about Doctor Herzenstube's gifts.
> Dative experiencer with «известно»: An impersonal construction: «всем» ('to everyone') is the dative experiencer, «известно» the neuter predicative, 'it was known to almost everyone'. There is no nominative subject; the content known follows in a «что»-clause.
> «позволить себе» + genitive after «несколько»: «Позволить себе» ('to allow oneself, to permit oneself') uses the reflexive dative «себе». The quantifier «несколько» ('several') then governs the genitive plural «обидных отзывов» — numerals and quantity-words pull their noun into the genitive.
> «какие-нибудь» — a mere two or three: Before a number, «какие-нибудь» means 'a mere, only some', minimizing the span: 'in a mere two or three days'. The idiom stresses how quickly the visiting doctor managed to give offence.

Дело в том, что хоть московский врач и брал за визиты не менее двадцати пяти рублей, но всё же некоторые в нашем городе обрадовались случаю его приезда, не пожалели денег и кинулись к нему за советами.  
The point was that, although the Moscow physician charged no less than twenty-five rubles a visit, still a few people in our town were glad of the chance his coming offered, did not begrudge the money, and rushed to him for advice.
> Concessive «хоть... но»: «Хоть (хотя)... но» frames a concession: 'although the Moscow doctor charged..., still...'. The reinforcing «и» after «хоть» ('even though he did charge') and the resumptive «но всё же» make the contrast emphatic.
> Genitive after «двадцати пяти»: After a compound numeral ending in five, «рублей» stands in the genitive plural. The whole phrase «не менее двадцати пяти рублей» ('no less than twenty-five rubles') itself sits in the genitive governed by «не менее».
> Genitive object «денег» under negation: «Не пожалеть денег» ('not to begrudge the money') puts the object «денег» in the genitive plural — the genitive of negation typical with negated «жалеть».

Всех этих больных лечил до него, конечно, доктор Герценштубе, и вот знаменитый врач с чрезвычайною резкостью окритиковал везде его лечение.  
All these patients had, of course, been treated previously by Doctor Herzenstube, and now the celebrated physician criticized his treatment everywhere with extraordinary harshness.
> Imperfective background vs. perfective event: «Лечил» (imperfective, 'had been treating') sets the standing background — Herzenstube was their regular doctor — against which «окритиковал» (perfective, 'criticized [outright]') lands as the new, single event. The aspect pairing carries the whole narrative logic.
> Archaic instrumental ending «-ою»: The archaic, longer instrumental ending «-ою» (modern «-ой») appears on the ADJECTIVE «чрезвычайною» (= «чрезвычайной»): «с чрезвычайною резкостью», 'with extraordinary sharpness'. «Резкостью» itself is the ordinary modern instrumental of the 3rd-declension feminine «резкость» (ending «-ью»), unchanged today. The «-ою» form is a period-elevated literary flavour throughout Dostoevsky.

Под конец даже, являясь к больному, прямо спрашивал: «Ну, кто вас здесь пачкал, Герценштубе? Хе-хе!»  
Toward the end he even took, on arriving at a patient's bedside, to asking outright: "Well, who has been bungling you here — Herzenstube? Heh-heh!"
> Imperfective gerund «являясь»: «Являясь» is the present (imperfective) gerund of «являться» ('on arriving, as he came'), expressing a circumstance simultaneous with the main verb «спрашивал». It shares the doctor's subject and reads as habitual: each time he arrived, he would ask.
> «пачкать» — to make a mess (of treating): Literally 'to soil, smear, daub', here a contemptuous slang for botching medical care: 'who's been mucking you about / bungling your treatment?'. The crude verb captures the visiting doctor's sneering arrogance toward Herzenstube.

Доктор Герценштубе, конечно, всё это узнал.  
Doctor Herzenstube, of course, learned of all this.
> Perfective «узнал» — came to learn: «Узнать» is the perfective ('to find out, learn of'), here the completed acquisition of knowledge: Herzenstube 'got wind of all this'. The flat brevity of the one-line sentence, after the gossip, lands the point.

И вот все три врача появились один за другим для опроса.  
And so all three physicians appeared one after another to be questioned.
> «один за другим» — one after another: A reciprocal-sequence idiom: «один за другим» ('one after the other'), with «за» + instrumental «другим». It frames the three doctors' successive appearance for questioning.

Доктор Герценштубе прямо заявил, что «ненормальность умственных способностей подсудимого усматривается сама собой».  
Doctor Herzenstube declared straight out that "the abnormality of the defendant's mental faculties is self-evident."
> Middle «-ся» + «сам собой»: «Усматривается» is a «-ся» verb in middle/passive sense ('is to be seen, is discernible'), and «сама собой» ('of itself, by itself') is the fixed instrumental phrase from the reflexive «себя». Together: the abnormality 'shows itself plainly' without needing to be argued.
> Clinical jargon in quotation marks: «Ненормальность умственных способностей» ('abnormality of the mental faculties') is deliberately stiff, pseudo-medical phrasing, set in quotation marks by the narrator to flag it as Herzenstube's solemn expert-speak.

Затем, представив свои соображения, которые я здесь опускаю, он прибавил, что ненормальность эта усматривается, главное, не только из прежних многих поступков подсудимого, но и теперь, в сию даже минуту, и когда его попросили объяснить, в чем же усматривается теперь, в сию-то минуту, то старик доктор со всею прямотой своего простодушия указал на то, что подсудимый, войдя в залу, «имел необыкновенный и чудный по обстоятельствам вид, шагал вперед как солдат и держал глаза впереди себя, упираясь, тогда как вернее было ему смотреть налево, где в публике сидят дамы, ибо он был большой любитель прекрасного пола и должен был очень много думать о том, что теперь о нем скажут дамы», — заключил старичок своим своеобразным языком.  
Then, having set out his reasoning, which I omit here, he added that this abnormality was to be seen, above all, not only in many of the defendant's earlier actions but even now, at this very minute; and when he was asked to explain in what it could be seen now, at this present minute, the old doctor, with all the directness of his simple heart, pointed to the fact that the defendant, on entering the courtroom, "had an extraordinary and, under the circumstances, peculiar air about him, marched forward like a soldier and kept his eyes fixed straight ahead of him, planting them there, whereas it would have been more natural for him to look to the left, where the ladies sit among the public, for he was a great admirer of the fair sex and must have been thinking a great deal about what the ladies would now say of him" — so the little old man concluded in his own idiosyncratic language.
> Perfective gerund «представив»: «Представив» is the past (perfective) gerund of «представить» ('having set out / presented'), marking an action completed before the main verb «прибавил» (he added). The perfective gerund regularly signals 'having done X, he then did Y'.
> Archaic demonstrative «сию»: «Сию» is the accusative feminine of «сей» ('this'), an archaic bookish demonstrative that the modern language replaces with «этот». Herzenstube's solemn «в сию даже минуту» ('at this very minute') has a deliberately old-fashioned, formal ring.
> Perfective gerund «войдя»: «Войдя» is the perfective past gerund of «войти» ('having entered, on entering'), describing the prior action that frames the main observation. It shares the subject «подсудимый» — the defendant entered, and then behaved oddly.
> Dative subject of an impersonal judgement: «Ему» (dative) is the experiencer of an impersonal evaluation: «вернее было ему смотреть» — 'it would have been more fitting for him to look'. The bare infinitive supplies the action, with no nominative subject at all.
> Archaic causal «ибо»: «Ибо» ('for, because') is the elevated, bookish conjunction of cause, common in Scripture, sermons, and 19th-century prose. Herzenstube reaches for it repeatedly, lending his testimony a quaint, almost biblical solemnity.
> «любитель прекрасного пола» — admirer of the fair sex: A genteel, slightly comic period euphemism: «прекрасный пол» ('the beautiful sex') = women; «любитель» = a fancier or devotee. The decorous phrasing softens the blunt fact that Mitya is a ladies' man.
> Affectionate diminutive «старичок»: «Старичок» is the warm diminutive of «старик» (old man) — 'the dear little old man'. The narrator's repeated use of it (vs. neutral «старик») signals the fond, faintly amused tenderness with which the whole town regards Herzenstube.

Надо прибавить, что он говорил по-русски много и охотно, но как-то у него каждая фраза выходила на немецкий манер, что, впрочем, никогда не смущало его, ибо он всю жизнь имел слабость считать свою русскую речь за образцовую, «за лучшую, чем даже у русских», и даже очень любил прибегать к русским пословицам, уверяя каждый раз, что русские пословицы лучшие и выразительнейшие изо всех пословиц в мире.  
I should add that he spoke Russian readily and at length, but somehow every phrase came out of him in the German manner — which, however, never embarrassed him, for all his life he had had the weakness of considering his own Russian speech exemplary, "better even than the Russians' own," and was even very fond of resorting to Russian proverbs, assuring everyone each time that Russian proverbs were the best and most expressive of all the proverbs in the world.
> Imperfective of recurring habit: «Выходила» (imperfective past) describes a recurring outcome — 'every phrase kept coming out in the German manner'. The imperfective is exactly right for a repeated, characteristic pattern of speech rather than one event.
> Reflexive possessive «свою» + «считать за»: «Свою» ('his own') is the reflexive possessive pointing back to the clause subject — his own Russian speech. «Считать за» (+ accusative) is an older idiom 'to take/regard as'; modern Russian more often uses the instrumental, «считать образцовой».
> Bookish superlative «-ейший»: «Выразительнейшие» is the suffixal superlative «-ейш-» ('most expressive'), a bookish alternative to «самый выразительный». «Изо всех» ('of all') with «из» + genitive completes the superlative frame. Both touches inflate Herzenstube's pet claim about Russian proverbs.

Замечу еще, что он, в разговоре, от рассеянности ли какой, часто забывал слова самые обычные, которые отлично знал, но которые вдруг почему-то у него из ума выскакивали.  
I will note further that in conversation, out of some absentmindedness or other, he often forgot the most ordinary words, which he knew perfectly well, but which for some reason would suddenly slip his mind.
> Tentative particle «ли»: Here «ли» does not form a question but expresses the narrator's uncertainty — 'out of some absent-mindedness or other', as if weighing 'whether it was distraction'. Paired with «какой», it gives a vague, guessing tone.
> Relative «которые» repeated: Two «которые» clauses modify «слова» (the words): the first accusative ('which he knew well'), the second nominative ('which kept slipping his mind'). «Который» agrees with its antecedent in gender/number but takes whatever case its own clause demands.

То же самое, впрочем, бывало, когда он говорил по-немецки, и при этом всегда махал рукой пред лицом своим, как бы ища ухватить потерянное словечко, и уж никто не мог бы принудить его продолжать начатую речь, прежде чем он не отыщет пропавшего слова.  
The same thing happened, by the way, when he spoke German, and at such times he always waved his hand before his face, as though groping to catch the lost little word, and no one could have made him go on with the speech he had begun until he had found the missing word.
> Conditional «бы» + negative concord: «Не мог бы» is the conditional/irrealis: past-form verb + particle «бы», 'no one could have made'. Note the negative concord — «никто... не мог» — with «не» still on the verb even though «никто» is already negative.
> Imperfective gerund «ища» of attendant action: «Ища» is the present gerund of «искать» ('seeking'), an accompanying simultaneous action to «махал рукой» (he waved his hand). «Как бы» ('as if') softens it to a simile of groping for the lost word.
> Diminutive «словечко»: The affectionate diminutive of «слово» (word) — 'the little word, the wee word'. It conveys the narrator's gentle amusement at the old doctor hunting for some small, ordinary word that has escaped him.
> Archaic «пред» and post-posed «своим»: «Пред» is the bookish, contracted form of «перед» ('before, in front of'), and placing the possessive «своим» after the noun («лицом своим») is an elevated, slightly archaic word order — both lend the sentence a literary, old-fashioned cadence.

Замечание его насчет того, что подсудимый, войдя, должен был бы посмотреть на дам, вызвало игривый шепот в публике.  
His remark, that the defendant, on entering, ought to have looked at the ladies, set off a playful murmur among the public.
> «должен был бы» — counterfactual obligation: «Должен был бы» stacks the modal «должен» ('ought') with past «был» and the irrealis «бы»: 'ought to have looked', a contrary-to-fact obligation about something that did not happen. The «бы» is what makes it counterfactual rather than a plain past duty.
> «игривый» — playful, risqué: 'Playful, frolicsome', with a faintly suggestive edge here ('a titillated whisper'). The courtroom public is amused that the staid old doctor has brought up Mitya's eye for the ladies.

Старичка нашего очень у нас любили все дамы, знали тоже, что он, холостой всю жизнь человек, благочестивый и целомудренный, на женщин смотрел как на высшие и идеальные существа.  
All our ladies were very fond of our little old man, and they knew, too, that a lifelong bachelor, devout and chaste, he looked upon women as higher and ideal beings.
> «смотреть на... как на» + accusative: «Смотреть на кого-то как на...» ('to regard someone as...') takes «на» + accusative twice, framing women as «высшие и идеальные существа» ('higher, ideal beings'). The doubled «на» construction is the idiomatic way to say 'to look upon X as Y'.
> «целомудренный» — chaste: 'Chaste, pure' (from «целый» whole + «мудрый» wise — 'whole-minded'), a dignified moral adjective. Paired with «холостой» (bachelor) and «благочестивый» (devout), it idealizes Herzenstube's lifelong innocence.

А потому неожиданное замечание его всем показалось ужасно странным.  
And so his unexpected remark struck everyone as terribly strange.
> Dative experiencer + instrumental predicate: «Всем» (dative, 'to everyone') is the experiencer of «показалось» ('seemed'), and the predicate adjective «странным» stands in the instrumental, as regularly happens after «казаться/показаться»: 'seemed terribly strange to everyone'.

Московский доктор, спрошенный в свою очередь, резко и настойчиво подтвердил, что считает умственное состояние подсудимого за ненормальное, «даже в высшей степени».  
The Moscow doctor, questioned in his turn, confirmed sharply and insistently that he considered the defendant's mental state to be abnormal, "even in the highest degree."
> Past passive participle «спрошенный»: «Спрошенный» is the long-form past passive participle of «спросить» ('questioned'), agreeing with «доктор» — a one-word relative clause, 'the doctor, who was questioned in his turn'. «В свою очередь» = 'in his turn'.
> «считать за» — to deem as: Again the older idiom «считать за» + accusative ('to regard as, count as'), here 'considered the mental state abnormal'. Modern usage prefers the instrumental «считать ненормальным»; the «за»-construction reads as period-tinged.

Он много и умно говорил про «аффект» и «манию» и выводил, что по всем собранным данным подсудимый пред своим арестом за несколько еще дней находился в несомненном болезненном аффекте и если совершил преступление, то хотя и сознавая его, но почти невольно, совсем не имея сил бороться с болезненным нравственным влечением, им овладевшим.  
He spoke at length and cleverly about "affect" and "mania," and deduced that, by all the data gathered, the defendant, for several days before his arrest, had been in an unmistakably morbid state of affect, and that if he had committed the crime, then, even while conscious of it, he had done so almost involuntarily, having no power at all to fight against the morbid moral compulsion that had seized him.
> Real conditional «если... то»: A factual (indicative) conditional, not irrealis: «если совершил... то...» ('if he committed..., then...'), with perfective «совершил» for the single completed act. There is no «бы» here — the doctor concedes the deed as possibly real, only its manner as involuntary.
> Concessive gerund «сознавая»: «Сознавая» (present gerund of «сознавать», 'while being conscious of') sets up a concession against «невольно» ('involuntarily'): even as he was aware of the act, he did it almost against his will. The gerund shares the subject 'he'.
> Past active participle «овладевшим» + instrumental: «Овладевшим» is the past active participle of «овладеть» ('that had seized'), agreeing in the instrumental with «влечением». «Овладеть» governs the instrumental of what is seized («им» = of him), so the compulsion 'took possession of him'.

Но кроме аффекта доктор усматривал и манию, что уже пророчило впереди, по его словам, прямую дорогу к совершенному уже помешательству.  
But besides affect, the doctor discerned mania as well, which already foretold, in his words, a direct road ahead to outright madness.
> «кроме» + genitive; additive «и»: «Кроме» ('besides, apart from') governs the genitive «аффекта». The particle «и» before «манию» is additive ('also, as well') rather than the conjunction 'and': the doctor discerned mania *too*.
> «пророчить» — to foretell: 'To prophesy, foretell, presage' (from «пророк», prophet). A weighty, almost biblical verb for the doctor's grim prognosis — the mania 'foretold a straight road to outright madness'.

({{NB}}. Я передаю своими словами, доктор же изъяснялся очень ученым и специальным языком).  
({{NB}}. I give it in my own words; the doctor himself expressed it in very learned and specialized language.)
> Contrastive particle «же»: «Же» here is the lightly contrastive/topic-shifting particle: 'the doctor, for his part, expressed himself...'. It marks a turn back to the doctor's own (learned) wording, set against the narrator's plain paraphrase.
> «изъясняться» — to express oneself: A bookish reflexive verb, 'to express oneself, make oneself understood', often with a hint of laboured or formal speech — apt for the doctor's 'very learned and specialized language'.

«Все действия его наоборот здравому смыслу и логике, — продолжал он. — Уже не говорю о том, чего не видал, то есть о самом преступлении и всей этой катастрофе, но даже третьего дня, во время разговора со мной, у него был необъяснимый неподвижный взгляд.  
"All his actions run contrary to common sense and logic," he went on. "I say nothing of what I did not see — that is, the crime itself and all this catastrophe — but even the day before yesterday, while talking with me, he had an inexplicable, fixed stare.
> Zero copula + dative with «наоборот»: The present tense has no copula: 'All his actions [are] contrary to common sense'. «Наоборот» governs the dative «здравому смыслу и логике» ('counter to sense and logic') — a somewhat non-standard, foreign-flavoured construction fitting the German doctor's idiom.
> Genitive of negation «чего не видал»: «Чего не видал» ('what I did not see') puts the relative pronoun in the genitive «чего» under negation — the genitive of negation reaching even into the relative clause. «О том, чего...» = 'about that which...'.
> «третьего дня» — the day before yesterday: A fixed genitive time-phrase, «третьего дня» ('on the third day [back]') = 'the day before yesterday'. An old-fashioned set expression, common in 19th-century speech.

Неожиданный смех, когда вовсе его не надо.  
Unexpected laughter, when there is no occasion for it whatever.
> Impersonal «не надо» + genitive «его»: «Не надо» ('there is no need') is impersonal, with no subject; «его» is the genitive ('of it', i.e. of the laughter) under negation. The clipped, verbless sentence — 'Unexpected laughter, when none is called for' — mimics the doctor's terse clinical notes.

Непонятное постоянное раздражение, странные слова: „Бернар, эфика“ и другие, которых не надо».  
An incomprehensible, constant irritability, strange words: 'Bernard, ethics,' and others that have no place there."
> Genitive «которых» under negation: «Которых не надо» ('which there is no need for / which are out of place') puts the relative «которых» in the genitive plural, governed by the impersonal negated «не надо». Another genitive-of-negation reflex.

Но особенно усматривал доктор эту манию в том, что подсудимый даже не может и говорить о тех трех тысячах рублей, в которых считает себя обманутым, без какого-то необычайного раздражения, тогда как обо всех других неудачах и обидах своих говорит и вспоминает довольно легко.  
But above all the doctor discerned this mania in the fact that the defendant could not so much as speak of those three thousand rubles, over which he believed himself cheated, without some extraordinary irritation, whereas about all his other misfortunes and grievances he spoke and reminisced rather easily.
> Genitive after «трех»; locative «о... тысячах»: After «три», the noun takes the genitive — here folded into «о тех трёх тысячах», the prepositional plural after «о» ('about those three thousand'). The intensifying «даже... и» ('cannot so much as even speak') heightens the point.
> «считать себя» + short passive participle: «Считать себя обманутым» ('to consider oneself cheated') uses reflexive «себя» plus the instrumental of the past passive participle «обманутым». The relative «в которых» ('over which') reaches back to the three thousand rubles.

Наконец, по справкам, он точно так же и прежде, всякий раз, когда касалось этих трех тысяч, приходил в какое-то почти исступление, а между тем свидетельствуют о нем, что он бескорыстен и нестяжателен.  
Finally, according to inquiries, he had been exactly the same before, too: every time the matter touched those three thousand, he flew into something like frenzy, and yet witnesses testified of him that he was disinterested and unacquisitive.
> Impersonal «касалось» + genitive: «Касаться» ('to touch upon, concern') governs the genitive «этих трёх тысяч», and is used here impersonally/neuter — 'every time it touched on those three thousand'. The genitive after «касаться» is fixed verb-government.
> «бескорыстен», «нестяжателен» — disinterested, unacquisitive: Two short-form predicate adjectives. «Бескорыстный» = 'selfless, disinterested'; «нестяжательный» = 'free of greed, not money-grubbing' (from «стяжать», to acquire/amass), a word with a spiritual-ascetic colouring. The short forms state these as defining traits — the very opposite of the money-mania just described.
> «исступление» — frenzy: 'Frenzy, a transport of rage or ecstasy', a near-pathological loss of self-control. A favourite Dostoevskian word for the extreme emotional states his characters fall into — here, Mitya's fury at any mention of the money.

«Насчет же мнения ученого собрата моего, — иронически присовокупил московский доктор, заканчивая свою речь, — что подсудимый, входя в залу, должен был смотреть на дам, а не прямо пред собою, скажу лишь то, что, кроме игривости подобного заключения, оно, сверх того, и радикально ошибочно; ибо хотя я вполне соглашаюсь, что подсудимый, входя в залу суда, в которой решается его участь, не должен был так неподвижно смотреть пред собой и что это действительно могло бы считаться признаком его ненормального душевного состояния в данную минуту, но в то же время я утверждаю, что он должен был смотреть не налево на дам, а, напротив, именно направо, ища глазами своего защитника, в помощи которого вся его надежда и от защиты которого зависит теперь вся его участь».  
"As for the opinion of my learned colleague," the Moscow doctor added ironically, finishing his speech, "that the defendant, on entering the courtroom, ought to have been looking at the ladies — I will say only this: that, apart from the frivolity of such a conclusion, it is, moreover, radically mistaken; for although I fully agree that the defendant, entering the courtroom in which his fate is being decided, ought not to have stared so fixedly before him, and that this could indeed be taken as a sign of his abnormal state of mind at the given moment, still at the same time I maintain that he ought to have been looking not to the left at the ladies but, on the contrary, precisely to the right, seeking with his eyes his defense counsel, in whose help lies all his hope and on whose defense his whole fate now depends."
> Imperfective gerund «входя»: «Входя» (present gerund of «входить», 'on entering') recurs through this passage as the framing circumstance for the defendant's gaze. Note the imperfective: the entering is viewed as the ongoing moment within which he should have looked one way or another.
> Concessive «хотя... но»: The Moscow doctor's long sentence pivots on «хотя... но» ('although... yet'): he concedes the fixed stare could signal abnormality, but insists the defendant should have looked right, not left. The paired conjunctions structure his elaborate, lawyerly rebuttal.
> Relative «которого» in the genitive: «Которого» ('of whom') is genitive, governed by «от» in «от защиты которого» ('on whose defence'); its antecedent is «защитника» (counsel). «Зависеть от» ('to depend on') fixes the «от» + genitive. The chain piles relative clauses to grand, oratorical effect.
> «собрат» — fellow brother (of a profession): «Собрат» ('confrère, brother-in-the-craft', genitive «собрата») is a slightly elevated word for a colleague in the same guild or calling. Coming from the Moscow doctor with «иронически», 'my learned confrère' drips with sarcasm toward Herzenstube.

Мнение свое доктор выразил решительно и настоятельно.  
The doctor delivered his opinion resolutely and emphatically.
> Object-first order + reflexive «свое»: The accusative object «мнение своё» ('his opinion') is fronted before the subject «доктор» for topic emphasis, with the reflexive possessive «свой» pointing back to the doctor himself. Free word order plus «свой» lets Russian foreground the opinion.

Но особенный комизм разногласию обоих ученых экспертов придал неожиданный вывод врача Варвинского, спрошенного после всех.  
But the special comedy of the disagreement between the two learned experts was supplied by the unexpected conclusion of the physician Varvinsky, who was questioned after all the rest.
> Inverted word order: object before subject: The sentence delays its grammatical subject «вывод» (the conclusion) to the end, behind the object «комизм» and verb «придал» ('gave'). «Придать чему-то» takes the dative «разногласию» — the conclusion 'lent comedy to the disagreement'. The inversion lands the surprise on Varvinsky's verdict.
> Past passive participle «спрошенного»: «Спрошенного» is the past passive participle in the genitive, agreeing with «врача Варвинского» ('Varvinsky, who was questioned after all the rest'). A compact participial relative clause, typical of the dense literary register.

На его взгляд, подсудимый как теперь, так и прежде, находится в совершенно нормальном состоянии, и хотя действительно он должен был пред арестом находиться в положении нервном и чрезвычайно возбужденном, но это могло происходить от многих самых очевидных причин: от ревности, гнева, беспрерывно пьяного состояния и проч.  
In his view, the defendant, both now and before, was in a perfectly normal condition, and although he had indeed, before his arrest, been bound to be in a nervous and extremely agitated state, this could have arisen from many of the most obvious causes: from jealousy, anger, an unbroken state of drunkenness, and so on.
> Modal «должен» + post-posed adjective: «Должен был находиться» here is epistemic ('must have been, was bound to be'), not deontic. Placing the adjective after its noun — «в положении нервном и... возбуждённом» rather than «в нервном положении» — is an elevated, literary inversion.
> «от» + genitive of cause: «От» + genitive names the source/cause of a state: «от ревности, гнева...» ('from jealousy, anger...'). The whole list of causes stands in the genitive governed by «от» — a standard way to attribute an emotional condition.
> «и проч.» — et cetera: Abbreviation of «и прочее» ('and the rest, and so forth'), the period's equivalent of 'etc.' Its dry, dismissive brevity suits Varvinsky's brisk, deflating list of perfectly mundane causes for Mitya's agitation.

Но это нервное состояние не могло заключать в себе никакого особенного «аффекта», о котором сейчас говорилось.  
But this nervous condition could not have contained within it any particular "affect" of the kind just spoken of.
> Genitive of negation + negative concord: «Никакого особенного аффекта» stands in the genitive under negation ('could not contain any particular affect'), with the negative pronoun «никакого» reinforced by «не» on the verb — both the genitive-of-negation and the negative-concord rule at once.
> Impersonal passive «-ся»: «говорилось»: «Говорилось» is an impersonal «-ся» passive, neuter ('of which was just spoken / which was just being discussed'). The «-ся» supplies a subjectless passive — a tidy bookish way to refer back without naming who spoke.

Что же до того, налево или направо должен был смотреть подсудимый, входя в залу, то, «по его скромному мнению», подсудимый именно должен был, входя в залу, смотреть прямо пред собой, как и смотрел в самом деле, ибо прямо пред ним сидели председатель и члены суда, от которых зависит теперь вся его участь, «так что, смотря прямо пред собой, он именно тем самым и доказал совершенно нормальное состояние своего ума в данную минуту», — с некоторым жаром заключил молодой врач свое «скромное» показание.  
As for whether the defendant ought to have been looking to the left or to the right on entering the courtroom, then, "in his humble opinion," the defendant ought, on entering the courtroom, to have looked precisely straight ahead, as in fact he did, for directly before him sat the presiding judge and the members of the court, on whom his whole fate now depends — "so that, by looking straight ahead, he proved by that very act the perfectly normal condition of his mind at the given moment" — with some heat the young physician concluded his "humble" testimony.
> «что (же) до... то» — as for X, then: «Что до... то» ('as for..., then/as concerns...') is a topic-framing formula that lifts a subject out front before the comment; the «же» adds emphasis. Varvinsky uses it to pivot to the question of which way Mitya should have looked.
> Gerund «смотря» + instrumental «тем самым»: The present gerund «смотря» ('by looking') sets the means, and «тем самым» ('by that very thing', instrumental of «тот самый») names the instrument by which 'he proved' his normality. The reinforcing «именно... и» ('precisely by that') drives the rhetorical point home.

— Браво, лекарь! — крикнул Митя со своего места, — именно так!  
"Bravo, sawbones!" Mitya shouted from his place. "Just so!"
> «лекарь» — sawbones, leech: An old, lower word for a physician (cf. «лечить», to treat), by Dostoevsky's day folksy and faintly disparaging — 'medic, sawbones'. Mitya's jubilant «Браво, лекарь!» is affectionately rough, hailing the young doctor as a plain-spoken ally.

Митю, конечно, остановили, но мнение молодого врача имело самое решающее действие как на суд, так и на публику, ибо, как оказалось потом, все с ним согласились.  
Mitya was, of course, silenced, but the young physician's opinion had the most decisive effect on both the court and the public, for, as it turned out afterward, everyone agreed with him.
> Correlative «как... так и»: «Как... так и...» is the correlative pair meaning 'both... and...': the opinion swayed 'both the court and the public'. A common, slightly formal way to coordinate two items with emphasis on their joint inclusion.
> Subjectless 3rd-person plural: «Остановили» ('[they] stopped [him]') has no stated subject — Russian's indefinite-personal use of the 3rd plural, 'he was silenced / they silenced him'. «Митю» is the regular accusative of «Митя» (first declension -я: nom Митя, gen Мити, acc Митю), distinct from the genitive; the acc=gen animacy rule does not apply to -я nouns.

Впрочем, доктор Герценштубе, спрошенный уже как свидетель, совершенно неожиданно вдруг послужил в пользу Мити.  
And yet Doctor Herzenstube, questioned now as a witness, quite unexpectedly turned out, all at once, to serve in Mitya's favor.
> Past passive participle «спрошенный»: «Спрошенный» (past passive participle, 'questioned'), in apposition to the subject «доктор Герценштубе», compresses 'now that he was questioned as a witness'. «Как свидетель» = 'in the capacity of a witness', contrasting with his earlier role as expert.
> Perfective «послужил» + «в пользу» + genitive: Perfective «послужить» ('to serve, to turn out to the benefit of') marks the surprising completed outcome. «В пользу» ('in favour of') governs the genitive «Мити» (genitive of «Митя», a masculine noun in «-я»).

Как старожил города, издавна знающий семейство Карамазовых, он дал несколько показаний, весьма интересных для «обвинения», и вдруг, как бы что-то сообразив, присовокупил:  
As an old resident of the town, long acquainted with the Karamazov family, he gave several pieces of testimony highly interesting to the "prosecution," and then suddenly, as though something had just occurred to him, added:
> Present active participle «знающий»: «Знающий» is the present active participle of «знать» ('knowing, who knew'), agreeing nominative-masculine with the implied subject — 'as an old resident long knowing the Karamazov family'. The imperfective participle fits the ongoing, long-standing acquaintance.
> Perfective gerund «сообразив»: «Сообразив» is the perfective past gerund of «сообразить» ('having figured/realized'), a prior completed action before «присовокупил» (he added). «Как бы» ('as if') frames it as a sudden seeming realization.
> «присовокупить» — to append, add: A markedly bookish,官-flavoured verb, 'to adjoin, append, subjoin' (a heavier cousin of «прибавить»). The chronicler's reach for such a word lends a mock-solemn, formal touch to introducing the old doctor's homely remark.

— И, однако, бедный молодой человек мог получить без сравнения лучшую участь, ибо был хорошего сердца и в детстве, и после детства, ибо я знаю это.  
"And yet the poor young man might have had an incomparably better lot, for he was of a good heart, both in childhood and after childhood — for I know it.
> Comparative «лучшую» + «без сравнения»: «Лучшую» is the attributive comparative (suppletive, from «хороший») 'a better [lot]'; «без сравнения» ('incomparably', lit. 'without comparison') intensifies it. «Мог получить» ('might have got') voices the counterfactual better fate.
> Repeated causal «ибо»: Herzenstube's signature «ибо» ('for, because') appears twice in one breath, the elevated/archaic conjunction of cause. «Был хорошего сердца» is a genitive-of-quality ('was of a good heart'). The piling of «ибо» marks his earnest, sermon-like German Russian.

Но русская пословица говорит: «Если есть у кого один ум, то это хорошо, а если придет в гости еще умный человек, то будет еще лучше, ибо тогда будет два ума, а не один только…»  
But a Russian proverb says: 'If a man has one mind, that is good; but if another clever man comes to visit, it will be better still, for then there will be two minds, and not just one…'"
> Conditional «если... то» (real): A real (indicative) conditional: «если есть... то...» ('if someone has..., then...'). «У кого» ('with someone', i.e. 'if a man has') uses the «у» + genitive possession construction. No «бы» — this is general truth, the form of a proverb.
> Contrastive «а»: «А» ('and/but, rather') here marks contrast — 'two minds, and not just one'. This mild adversative «а», untranslatable by a single English word, is the natural hinge of the homespun proverb the doctor is mangling.

— Ум хорошо, а два — лучше, — в нетерпении подсказал прокурор, давно уже знавший обычай старичка говорить медленно, растянуто, не смущаясь производимым впечатлением и тем, что заставляет себя ждать, а, напротив, еще весьма ценя свое тугое, картофельное и всегда радостно-самодовольное немецкое остроумие.  
"Two heads are better than one," the prosecutor prompted impatiently, having long known the little old man's habit of speaking slowly and drawn-out, undismayed by the impression he produced or by the fact that he kept people waiting, but, on the contrary, prizing highly his own ponderous, potato-like, and always smugly self-satisfied German wit.
> Contrastive «а» in the proverb proper: The proverb in its crisp canonical form: «Ум хорошо, а два лучше» — note again the hinge-«а» ('one mind is good, but two are better'), and the zero copula (no 'is'). Its terseness throws Herzenstube's wordy version into comic relief.
> Past active participle «знавший»: «Знавший» (past active participle of «знать», 'who had long known') modifies «прокурор», packing 'the prosecutor, who had long known the old man's habit' into a participial phrase — the dense literary stacking Dostoevsky favours.
> Negated gerund «не смущаясь» + passive participle: «Не смущаясь» is the present gerund of reflexive «смущаться» ('undismayed, not embarrassed'), negated by «не». «Производимым» is a rare present passive participle ('being produced'), agreeing in the instrumental with «впечатлением» — the impression he was producing.
> «картофельное остроумие» — potato-like wit: «Тугое» ('slow, stiff, hard-going'), «картофельное» ('potato-ish'), and «радостно-самодовольное» ('joyously self-satisfied') skewer Herzenstube's heavy German humour with an inventive, faintly cruel comedy. «Картофельное остроумие» — 'potato wit' — is a coinage caricaturing stolid Germanic earnestness.

Старичок же любил острить.  
And the little old man was fond of being witty.
> Particle «же» linking back: «Же» again as a soft contrastive/resumptive ('and the old man, for his part, did love...'). «Любил острить» ('was fond of cracking jokes') pairs the imperfective «любил» with the imperfective infinitive «острить», naming a habitual trait.

— О, д-да, и я то же говорю, — упрямо подхватил он, — один ум хорошо, а два гораздо лучше. Но к нему другой с умом не пришел, а он и свой пустил… Как это, куда он его пустил?  
"Oh, y-yes, I say the same thing," he took up stubbornly, "one mind is good, but two are far better. Only no other man with a mind came to him, and so he sent even his own out… How is it — where did he send it?"
> Contrastive «а» + reflexive «свой» + emphatic «и»: «А он и свой пустил» — «а» contrasts ('but he, for his part'), «свой» (reflexive possessive, 'his own [mind]') points back to the subject, and «и» is emphatic ('even sent his own out'). The clause sets up the doctor's pun about Mitya's mind going off.
> Genitive/dative play with «к нему» and negation: «К нему» ('to him', «к» + dative) and «не пришёл» (perfective past negated, 'did not come'): 'no other man with a mind came to him'. The negated perfective denies that a single such visit ever happened.
> «подхватить» — to take up (a thread): Literally 'to catch up, snatch up', here of speech: 'he took it up, chimed in'. It conveys the eager way Herzenstube seizes the prosecutor's prompt to continue his laboured joke.

Это слово — куда он пустил свой ум, я забыл, — продолжал он, вертя рукой пред своими глазами, — ах да, шпацирен.  
"That word — where he sent his mind — I have forgotten," he went on, twirling his hand before his eyes, "ah yes, spazieren."
> Imperfective gerund «вертя»: «Вертя» is the present gerund of «вертеть» ('twirling, turning'), an action accompanying «продолжал» (he went on). «Рукой» is the instrumental of the means; «пред своими глазами» again uses archaic «пред» and reflexive «своими».
> A German word in Russian dress: Groping for a Russian verb, the old doctor blurts out the German 'spazieren' (to stroll), russified as «шпацирен»; the prosecutor supplies «Гулять?» ('to go for a walk'). The joke is that Herzenstube imagines the prisoner's «ум» (mind, wits) literally went out for a walk and got lost.

— Гулять?  
"For a walk?"
> «гулять» — to stroll, the Russian for «шпацирен»: The one-word prompt supplies the native equivalent of the doctor's German «шпацирен»: «гулять», 'to go for a walk, to stroll about'. The bare interrogative — someone (the prosecutor) helpfully filling the blank — keeps the comic exchange moving.

— Ну да, гулять, и я то же говорю. Вот ум его и пошел прогуливаться и пришел в такое глубокое место, в котором и потерял себя.  
"Why yes, for a walk, I say the same thing. So his mind went off strolling and came to such a deep place that there it lost itself.
> Chain of perfective verbs + reflexive «себя»: Perfectives «пошёл... пришёл... потерял» move the little allegory forward event by event: the mind set off, came to a deep place, and there 'lost itself'. «Потерял себя» uses the full reflexive «себя» — it lost its own self.
> «прогуливаться» — to stroll about: The reflexive «-ся» imperfective 'to take a stroll, walk about for pleasure' — Herzenstube's found Russian word for «шпацирен». The mind 'went off to take a leisurely walk', the gentle absurdity sustaining the doctor's extended conceit about Mitya's wits.

А между тем, это был благодарный и чувствительный юноша, о, я очень помню его еще вот таким малюткой, брошенным у отца в задний двор, когда он бегал по земле без сапожек и с панталончиками на одной пуговке.  
And yet he was a grateful and sensitive youth — oh, I remember him very well, still such a little mite, abandoned in his father's back yard, when he ran about over the ground without any boots and with his little trousers held up by a single button.
> Past passive participle «брошенным»: «Брошенным» is the past passive participle of «бросить» ('abandoned, thrown'), in the instrumental agreeing with «малюткой» — 'such a little mite, abandoned in his father's back yard'. It compresses 'who had been left/cast off' into one word.
> A cluster of tender diminutives: «Малютка» (tiny child), «сапожки» (little boots), «панталончики» (little trousers) heap up affectionate diminutive suffixes, painting the neglected boy Mitya with pathos. The piled-up «-к»/«-чик» endings are the grammatical sound of the old doctor's welling tenderness.

Какая-то чувствительная и проникновенная нотка послышалась вдруг в голосе честного старичка.  
Some sensitive, penetrating note sounded all at once in the honest old man's voice.
> Inchoative «-ся» perfective «послышалась»: «Послышаться» is a «-ся» perfective ('to become audible, to be heard'), the «по-» giving an inceptive 'a note suddenly sounded'. The «-ся» here yields an intransitive 'made itself heard', with «нотка» as the thing that emerged in his voice.
> Diminutive «нотка»: The diminutive of «нота» (note) — 'a little note, a faint strain'. The softening suffix matches the delicate, sudden tenderness ('a sensitive, penetrating little note') that breaks into the honest old man's voice.

Фетюкович так и вздрогнул, как бы что-то предчувствуя, и мигом привязался.  
Fetyukovich fairly started, as though sensing something, and instantly fastened on it.
> Imperfective gerund «предчувствуя»: «Предчувствуя» is the present gerund of «предчувствовать» ('sensing in advance, having a foreboding'), an accompanying circumstance to «вздрогнул». «Как бы» ('as though') frames Fetyukovich's start as if from a presentiment.
> Emphatic «так и»: «Так и» before a perfective verb is an intensifier — 'fairly started, positively jumped'. It paints the action as vivid and involuntary: Fetyukovich gave a real start.
> «привязаться» — to fasten onto: Literally 'to attach oneself, get tied to', here figuratively 'fastened on it, latched onto it' — the defence lawyer instantly seizes the emotional opening Herzenstube has just given. The «-ся» verb conveys the eager, almost predatory pounce.

— О да, я сам был тогда еще молодой человек… Мне… ну да, мне было тогда сорок пять лет, а я только что сюда приехал.  
"Oh yes, I was still a young man myself then… I… well yes, I was forty-five years old then, and I had only just arrived here.
> Dative of age + genitive after the numeral: Age is impersonal-dative: «мне было сорок пять лет» (lit. 'to me there were forty-five years' = 'I was forty-five'). After «пять», «лет» (an irregular genitive plural of «год») stands in the genitive — the case numerals impose.
> Perfective «приехал» of arrival: «Приехал» is the prefixed perfective verb of motion ('arrived, had just come'), with «при-» marking arrival. «Только что» ('just now, only just') pins the completed arrival to the recent past.

И мне стало тогда жаль мальчика, и я спросил себя: почему я не могу купить ему один фунт… Ну да, чего фунт? Я забыл, как это называется… фунт того, что дети очень любят, как это — ну, как это… — замахал опять доктор руками, — это на дереве растет, и его собирают и всем дарят…  
And I felt sorry then for the boy, and I asked myself: why can I not buy him one pound of… Well now, a pound of what? I have forgotten what it is called… a pound of the thing that children love so much, what is it — well, what is it…" — again the doctor waved his hands — "it grows on a tree, and people gather it and give it to everybody…"
> Dative subject of feeling + «жаль» + genitive: A pure dative-experiencer construction: «мне стало жаль» ('I came to feel sorry', lit. 'to me it became pitiful'), with no nominative subject. The object of pity, «мальчика», takes the genitive after «жаль» — the regular government of this pity-word.
> Dative recipient + «купить»: «Купить ему» ('buy for him') puts the beneficiary «ему» in the dative — the indirect object, 'to/for whom' the purchase is made. Herzenstube's plain dative recipient frames the tender impulse behind the famous pound of nuts.
> Subjectless 3rd-plural + dative «всем»: «Собирают» and «дарят» are indefinite-personal 3rd-plural verbs with no stated subject ('people gather it and give it to everyone'). «Всем» is the dative recipient of «дарят» ('give to all'). The doctor's groping circumlocution for 'nuts' is the chapter's closing comic note.

— Яблоки?  
"Apples?"

— О н-не-е-ет! Фунт, фунт, яблоки десяток, а не фунт… нет, их много и всё маленькие, кладут в рот и кр-р-рах!..  
"Oh n-no-o-o! A pound, a pound — apples come by the dozen, not by the pound… no, there are many of them and they are all little, you put them in your mouth and cr-r-rack!.."
> «десяток» — a count of ten: «Десяток» is a unit of ten, the everyday way Russians count eggs, apples, and the like (apples come «десятками», by the dozen-of-ten). The doctor's point is that apples are sold by the count, not by weight, so the gift cannot have been apples.
> Impersonal «кладут» — 'one puts': «Кладут» is third-person plural with no stated subject — the indefinite-personal construction that English renders as 'you/one puts.' Russian routinely drops the actor this way when the agent is generic, leaning on the bare ending to do the work.
> «крах» as a sound-word: Here the stuttering doctor mimics a crunch — «кр-р-рах!» — an onomatopoeic interjection for the snap of a nut between the teeth. The drawn-out rolled р renders his halting, accented German-Russian speech on the page.

— Орехи?  
"Nuts?"

— Ну да, орехи, и я то же говорю, — самым спокойным образом, как бы вовсе и не искал слова, подтвердил доктор, — и я принес ему один фунт орехов, ибо мальчику никогда и никто еще не приносил фунт орехов, и я поднял мой палец и сказал ему: «Мальчик! Gott der Vater», — он засмеялся и говорит: «Gott der Vater. — Gott der Sohn».  
"Why yes, nuts, I say the same thing," the doctor confirmed in the calmest manner, as though he had not been searching for the word at all, "and I brought him one pound of nuts, for no one had ever yet brought the boy a pound of nuts, and I raised my finger and said to him: 'Boy! Gott der Vater' — he laughed and said: 'Gott der Vater. — Gott der Sohn.'
> «самым спокойным образом» — 'in the calmest manner': A set adverbial phrase: «образом» ('manner, way') in the instrumental, modified by the superlative «самым спокойным», yields 'in the calmest manner.' The pattern «таким образом / самым ... образом» is the standard bookish way to express manner.
> «как бы» softening with «бы»: «Как бы» ('as if, as though') plus the past-form verb «искал» builds an irrealis comparison — he behaved 'as though he had not been searching for the word at all.' The particle «бы» is what tips «как» from plain 'how' into the hypothetical 'as if.'
> Genitive of negation: «слова»: Under the negated «не искал» the object «слово» appears as genitive «слова» rather than accusative «слово» — the genitive of negation, especially natural with a non-specific object ('wasn't looking for a word at all').
> «ибо» — bookish 'for, because': «Ибо» is an archaic, biblical-sounding conjunction for 'for, because,' marking the doctor's earnest, sermon-like cadence. It recurs through his whole speech and is a deliberate touch of the elevated literary register.
> Negative concord: «никогда... никто... не»: Russian piles up negatives that all point one way: «никогда» (never), «никто» (no one), and the verb's «не» together mean 'no one had ever yet brought.' The «ни-» words demand, rather than cancel, the verbal «не».

Он еще засмеялся и лепетал: «Gott der Sohn. — Gott der heilige Geist».  
He laughed again and lisped: 'Gott der Sohn. — Gott der heilige Geist.'
> «лепетать» — to babble, lisp: «Лепетать» is to babble or prattle as a small child does, just barely forming the words — a tender, slightly pitying verb. The imperfective here paints the boy haltingly repeating the German phrase.

Тогда он еще засмеялся и проговорил сколько мог: «Gott der heilige Geist». A я ушел.  
Then he laughed once more and pronounced, as best he could: 'Gott der heilige Geist.' And I went away.
> Perfective «проговорил» + «сколько мог»: The perfective «проговорил» frames a single completed utterance — 'he pronounced (it).' «Сколько мог» ('as much as he could') uses the past «мог» of «мочь», showing the boy's effort to get the words out.
> Topic-shifting «а» and perfective «ушёл»: «А» here is the mild contrastive connector that pivots to a new beat ('And/whereupon I went away'), not the strong 'but' of «но». The perfective «ушёл» (from «уйти») marks the departure as a single completed event closing the scene.

На третий день иду мимо, а он кричит мне сам: «Дядя, Gott der Vater, Gott der Sohn», и только забыл «Gott der heilige Geist», но я ему вспомнил, и мне опять стало очень жаль его.  
On the third day I was walking past, and he himself shouts to me: 'Uncle, Gott der Vater, Gott der Sohn,' and had only forgotten 'Gott der heilige Geist,' but I reminded him of it, and again I felt very sorry for him.
> Historic present «иду» in narration: Telling a past event, the doctor switches to the vivid present «иду» ('I am walking past'), a storyteller's device that drops the listener into the scene. «Идти» is the unidirectional motion verb — a single trajectory past the spot, not habitual going.
> «дядя» as a child's address: Literally 'uncle,' «дядя» is what a Russian child warmly calls any grown man, not a blood relative. The boy's shout 'Uncle!' marks the affection the doctor's small kindness has earned.
> Dative-experiencer: «мне... жаль»: There is no nominative subject: «мне» (dative) is the one who feels, «жаль» is the impersonal predicate of pity, and «его» (genitive) is whom he pities — 'I felt very sorry for him.' This dative-experiencer frame is everywhere in Dostoevsky's emotional life.

Но его увезли, и я более не видал его.  
But he was taken away, and I saw him no more.
> Subjectless «увезли» — 'he was taken away': Third-person plural «увезли» with no named subject reads as a passive: 'he was taken away' (lit. 'they took him away'). Russian prefers this indefinite-personal turn to a true passive when the agent is unimportant.
> «более не» and imperfective «видал»: «Более не» means 'no more, no longer'; with the imperfective «видал» (a colloquial variant of «видел») it states the lasting fact 'I saw him no more.' Imperfective fits the open-ended, durative sense of never seeing him again.

И вот прошло двадцать три года, я сижу в одно утро в моем кабинете, уже с белою головой, и вдруг входит цветущий молодой человек, которого я никак не могу узнать, но он поднял палец и смеясь говорит: «Gott der Vater, Gott der Sohn und Gott der heilige Geist! Я сейчас приехал и пришел вас благодарить за фунт орехов; ибо мне никто никогда не покупал тогда фунт орехов, а вы один купили мне фунт орехов».  
And so twenty-three years went by, and I am sitting one morning in my study, already with a white head, when suddenly there comes in a young man in the flower of life, whom I can in no way recognize, but he raised his finger and, laughing, says: 'Gott der Vater, Gott der Sohn und Gott der heilige Geist! I have just arrived and have come to thank you for the pound of nuts; for no one ever bought me a pound of nuts in those days, but you alone bought me a pound of nuts.'
> Historic present throughout the climax: The whole recollection runs in the present — «сижу» (I sit), «входит» (comes in), «говорит» (says) — even though it happened years ago. This sustained historic present makes the long-delayed reunion feel as if it is unfolding now.
> Old instrumental ending «-ою»: «С белою головой» ('with a white head') uses the archaic feminine instrumental «-ою» where modern Russian writes «-ой» («белой»). The longer ending, common in 19th-century prose and verse, marks the elevated literary register.
> Relative «которого» in the accusative: «Которого» agrees with «молодой человек» in gender and number but takes the accusative its own clause demands ('whom I cannot recognize'); the animate accusative borrows the genitive form «-ого». «Никак не» reinforces the negation — 'in no way.'
> Gerund «смеясь» — 'laughing': «Смеясь» is the imperfective present gerund («деепричастие») of «смеяться», an indeclinable verb-adverb meaning 'while laughing.' It shares the subject of «говорит» and folds a simultaneous action into the main clause — a hallmark of literary narration.
> «цветущий» — 'in the flower of life': «Цветущий», literally 'blossoming,' is the present active participle of «цвести» used adjectivally for a person in vigorous bloom — a flourishing, healthy young man. It contrasts pointedly with the poor barefoot child of the memory.

И тогда я вспомнил мою счастливую молодость и бедного мальчика на дворе без сапожек, и у меня повернулось сердце, и я сказал: «Ты благодарный молодой человек, ибо всю жизнь помнил тот фунт орехов, который я тебе принес в твоем детстве» И я обнял его и благословил.  
And then I remembered my happy youth and the poor boy in the yard without any boots, and my heart turned over within me, and I said: 'You are a grateful young man, for all your life you have remembered that pound of nuts which I brought you in your childhood.' And I embraced him and blessed him.
> «сапожки» — little boots (diminutive): «Сапожек» is the genitive plural of «сапожки», the affectionate diminutive of «сапоги» (boots). «Без сапожек» ('without little boots') carries a note of tenderness and pity for the small, poor child, far more than 'without boots' would in English.
> «у меня повернулось сердце» — idiom of feeling: Literally 'the heart turned over by me' — «у меня» (possessor in the genitive) plus the reflexive «повернулось» — an idiom for being moved to the core. The «-ся» here gives the intransitive, self-acting sense ('turned over' on its own).
> Correlative «тот... который»: The demonstrative «тот» ('that') sets up the relative «который», a frequent pairing: 'that pound of nuts which I brought you.' «Который» agrees in gender and number with «фунт» but stands in the accusative as the relative clause's object.
> «благословить» — to bless: «Благословил» ('blessed') is a word from the religious register — a Church-Slavonic-derived compound (literally 'to speak well of / over') for the gesture of blessing. It gives the embrace a solemn, almost priestly weight.

И я заплакал.  
And I wept.
> Inceptive prefix «за-»: «заплакал»: The prefix «за-» on «плакать» yields the perfective «заплакать», 'to burst into tears, start weeping' — it marks the onset of the crying as a single completed event. This inceptive «за-» is a common way Russian signals a state beginning.

Он смеялся, но он и плакал… ибо русский весьма часто смеется там, где надо плакать.  
He was laughing, but he was weeping too… for a Russian very often laughs where he ought to weep.
> «ибо» and the timeless present: «Ибо» is an archaic, bookish word for 'for, because' that lends the old man's speech a solemn, almost biblical ring. Note the general truth he states: «русский... смеётся» uses singular «русский» (a Russian = Russians in general) with the present tense to express a national trait, not a one-time act.
> Impersonal «надо плакать»: «Надо» ('one must, ought') is an impersonal predicate taking an infinitive and no nominative subject — 'where one ought to weep.' The unstated experiencer is generic, a fitting frame for a universal claim about the Russian soul.

Но он и плакал, я видел это.  
But he was weeping too — I saw it.
> Emphatic «и» — 'he too wept': Here «и» is not 'and' but the emphatic particle 'too, even, also': «он и плакал» = 'he was weeping as well.' This adverbial «и», placed right before the verb, foregrounds the surprising fact against the laughter.

А теперь, увы!..  
And now, alas!.."
> «увы» — 'alas': «Увы» is the elevated, slightly theatrical interjection of grief or regret, 'alas.' Trailing off into «А теперь, увы!..», the doctor leaves the bleak contrast with the present unspoken.

— И теперь плачу, немец, и теперь плачу, божий ты человек! — крикнул вдруг Митя со своего места.  
"And now too I am weeping, you German, now too I am weeping, you man of God!" Mitya suddenly shouted from his place.
> «божий человек» — 'man of God': «Божий человек» ('man of God') is a warm folk-religious epithet for a simple, holy, guileless soul. The inserted «ты» ('you') turns it into a heartfelt direct address — Mitya, overcome, cries it out to the kindly German doctor.
> Reflexive possessive «своего»: «Со своего места» ('from his place') uses the reflexive possessive «свой», which always points back to the clause's own subject — here Mitya. Choosing «его места» instead would imply someone else's place; «свой» keeps it his.

Как бы там ни было, а анекдотик произвел в публике некоторое благоприятное впечатление.  
However that may be, the little anecdote produced a certain favorable impression among the public.
> «как бы там ни было» — concessive idiom: A frozen concessive formula, 'however that may be / be that as it may.' It is built from «бы» plus «ни» plus the past «было» — the intensifying «ни» giving the 'no matter how' sense rather than a simple negation.
> «анекдотик» — diminutive of «анекдот»: «Анекдот» here means an anecdote or little episode (not a joke). The diminutive «-ик» («анекдотик») colours it as a slight, charming 'little anecdote' — the narrator's faintly amused tone toward the doctor's tale.

Но главный эффект в пользу Мити произведен был показанием Катерины Ивановны, о котором сейчас скажу.  
But the chief effect in Mitya's favor was produced by the testimony of Katerina Ivanovna, of which I shall speak presently.
> Passive participle + instrumental agent: «Произведён был» is the short past passive participle of «произвести» with «был» — 'was produced.' The agent stands in the instrumental: «показанием Катерины Ивановны» ('by Katerina Ivanovna's testimony'), the standard way Russian names the doer of a passive.
> Relative «о котором» + perfective future «скажу»: «О котором» ('of which') is the relative «который» in the prepositional after «о», governed by «сказать». «Скажу» is the perfective present-form verb that carries future meaning — 'I shall speak (of it) presently.'

Да и вообще, когда начались свидетели à décharge, то есть вызванные защитником, то судьба как бы вдруг и даже серьезно улыбнулась Мите и — что всего замечательнее — неожиданно даже для самой защиты.  
And in general, when the witnesses à décharge began — that is, those called by the defense — fate seemed all at once, and even in earnest, to smile on Mitya, and — what is most remarkable of all — unexpectedly even for the defense itself.
> Passive participle «вызванные» + instrumental agent: «Вызванные» is the past passive participle of «вызвать» ('summoned, called'), agreeing with «свидетели». Its agent «защитником» ('by the defense counsel') is in the instrumental — the same agent-marking seen with full passives.
> Dative recipient with «улыбнуться»: «Улыбнуться» takes its recipient in the dative: «улыбнулась Мите» — fate 'smiled on Mitya.' The reflexive «-ся» is lexicalised here (the verb only exists in this form), and «бы»-free «как бы» means 'as it were, seemingly.'
> Comparative «замечательнее» with «всего»: «Всего замечательнее» ('most remarkable of all') uses the invariable comparative «замечательнее» plus genitive «всего» to express a superlative — literally 'more remarkable than everything.' This «...всего/всех» pattern is the idiomatic Russian superlative.

Но еще прежде Катерины Ивановны спрошен был Алеша, который вдруг припомнил один факт, имевший вид даже как будто положительного уже свидетельства против одного важнейшего пункта обвинения.  
But even before Katerina Ivanovna, Alyosha was questioned, and he suddenly recalled one fact that had the look of something almost like positive evidence against one of the weightiest points of the indictment.
> Short passive participle «спрошен был»: «Спрошен был» is the short past passive participle of «спросить» with «был» — 'was questioned.' The inverted order, participle before «был» and subject «Алёша» after, throws rhetorical weight onto the unexpected questioning.
> Past active participle «имевший»: «Имевший» is the past active participle of «иметь» ('having'), agreeing with «факт» — 'a fact that had the look of...' It condenses a «который»-clause into a single modifier, the dense participial style typical of literary Russian.
> Suffixal superlative «важнейшего»: «Важнейшего» is the bookish suffixal superlative of «важный», -ейш- giving 'weightiest, most important.' It declines and agrees like any adjective (here genitive after «против») — a markedly literary alternative to «самый важный».
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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.