# The Brothers Karamazov, The Engagement

Братья Карамазовы · Fyodor Dostoevsky · Book V — Pro and Contra

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b5-c1. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b5-c1.json.


Госпожа Хохлакова опять встретила Алешу первая.  
Madame Hohlakova was again the first to meet Alyosha.
> «первая» as a depictive nominative: «первая» is the long (full) form (nominative singular feminine of the ordinal «первый»), used as a depictive secondary predicate agreeing with «Госпожа Хохлакова», not with the object — it tells us how the subject met him: «she was the first to meet him». Russian readily uses such an agreeing adjective where English needs a relative or infinitive phrase.
> «госпожа» — Madame, Mrs.: «госпожа» is the polite title for a married or genteel woman (its masculine counterpart is «господин»). With the surname «Хохлакова» — itself a feminine form of «Хохлаков» — it marks her standing as a propertied lady of the town.

Она торопилась: случилось нечто важное: истерика Катерины Ивановны кончилась обмороком, затем наступила «ужасная, страшная слабость, она легла, завела глаза и стала бредить.  
She was in a hurry: something important had happened: Katerina Ivanovna's hysterics had ended in a fainting fit, and then had come on "a terrible, dreadful weakness; she had lain down, rolled up her eyes, and begun to rave.
> Neuter agreement with «нечто»: «случилось» takes the neuter -ло past because its subject is «нечто» (something), an indeclinable neuter pronoun; the adjective «важное» likewise agrees in the neuter. Russian past tenses agree in gender and number rather than person.
> Instrumental of the outcome: «обмороком» (fainting fit) is in the instrumental: the reflexive «кончиться» — to end — frames what the hysterics ended in / resolved into. This instrumental of result is idiomatic with verbs of ending and becoming.
> «стать» + imperfective infinitive (inceptive): «стала бредить» means 'began to rave': the perfective «стать» plus an imperfective infinitive is the ordinary way to mark the onset of an activity. The chain «легла, завела глаза и стала бредить» strings perfective verbs to move the narrative forward event by event.
> «истерика» — a hysterical fit: «истерика» is a fit of hysterics, a near-clinical word much used of overwrought women in 19th-century fiction. Coupled with «обморок» (a swoon) and «бредить» (to rave) it sketches the period's vocabulary of nervous collapse.

Теперь жар, послали за Герценштубе, послали за тетками.  
Now there was fever; they had sent for Herzenstube, they had sent for the aunts.
> Impersonal plural «послали» + «за» for fetching: «послали» is a subjectless third-person plural ('they sent', i.e. 'someone was sent'), a common impersonal device. «За» plus the instrumental («за Герценштубе», «за тетками») means 'to fetch / send for' someone.
> «жар» — fever, heat: «жар» here is feverish heat of the body. The clipped «Теперь жар» — verbless, just 'now [there is] fever' — captures Madame Hohlakova's breathless, headlong manner of speech.

Тетки уж здесь, а Герценштубе еще нет.  
The aunts are here already, but Herzenstube is not yet.
> Contrastive «а» and a zero copula: Both clauses drop the verb 'to be' — Russian uses no present-tense copula — and «а» hinges them in mild contrast ('the aunts are here, whereas Herzenstube is not yet'). «уж» (= «уже») and «ещё нет» set 'already' against 'not yet'.

Все сидят в ее комнате и ждут.  
They are all sitting in her room and waiting.
> Present imperfectives for the standing scene: «сидят» and «ждут» are imperfective presents — only the imperfective forms a present tense — holding the scene in an ongoing, vivid present as Madame Hohlakova reports it.

Что-то будет, а она без памяти.  
Something will come of it, and she lies there unconscious.
> «будет» as the future of «быть»: Here «будет» is the simple future of «быть» used existentially: «Что-то будет» — 'something will happen / come of it'. With «-то», «что-то» is a specific-but-unknown 'something'.
> «без памяти» — unconscious: The set phrase «без памяти» (literally 'without memory/consciousness') means 'unconscious, senseless'. In other contexts the same idiom can mean 'madly, head over heels' (любить без памяти).

А ну если горячка!»  
And what if it turns to brain fever!"
> Elliptical conditional exclamation: A verbless conditional cry: «если горячка!» — '[and] what if [it's] brain fever!' The opening «А ну» is an alarmed colloquial 'and suppose now…', the conjunction «если» dangling without a main clause, all consequence left to the imagination.
> «горячка» — brain fever, delirium: «горячка» (from «горячий», hot) is the period term for a high feverish delirium, the dreaded 'brain fever' of 19th-century novels. It carries real menace: such fevers were often fatal.

Восклицая это, госпожа Хохлакова имела вид серьезно испуганный: «Это уж серьезно, серьезно!» — прибавляла она к каждому слову, как будто всё, что случалось с ней прежде, было несерьезно.  
As she cried this out, Madame Hohlakova wore a look of genuine fright: "This is serious now, serious!"—she added to every word, as though everything that had befallen her before had not been serious.
> «деепричастие»: simultaneous gerund «восклицая»: «Восклицая» is an imperfective present gerund ('exclaiming, as she cried out'), an indeclinable verb-adverb naming an action simultaneous with the main verb «имела». It must share the main clause's subject — Madame Hohlakova — and is a hallmark of literary narration.
> Instrumental-free предложный? No — set phrase «иметь вид»: «иметь вид» + a long-form adjective ('to have a … look') keeps the adjective in the accusative, agreeing with «вид» (испуганный, accusative masc.). The adverb «серьезно» modifies the adjective: 'a seriously frightened look'.
> «как будто» + irrealis comparison: «как будто» ('as though') opens an unreal comparison; inside, the relative «что» picks up «всё» («всё, что случалось» — everything that used to happen). The imperfective «случалось» gives the iterative sense of recurring past episodes.

Алеша выслушал ее с горестью; начал было излагать ей и свои приключения, но она его с первых же слов прервала: ей было некогда, она просила посидеть у Lise и у Lise подождать ее.  
Alyosha listened to her with sorrow; he had begun to set out his own adventures to her as well, but she cut him off at his very first words: she had no time for it, she begged him to sit with Lise and to wait for her there.
> The particle «было» of the interrupted attempt: «было» after a past-tense verb marks an action begun but checked or reversed: «начал было излагать» — 'he had just begun to set out…', the implication being that he was cut off. It is a compact 19th-century device for the abortive action, fulfilled here by «прервала».
> Dative-subject impersonal «ей было некогда»: A classic impersonal: no nominative subject, the experiencer «ей» in the dative, and «некогда» ('there is no time') as the impersonal predicate with neuter «было». English needs a full subject ('she had no time'); Russian frames it as a state befalling her.

— Lise, милейший Алексей Федорович, — зашептала она ему почти на ухо, — Lise меня странно удивила сейчас, но и умилила, а потому сердце мое ей всё прощает.  
"Lise, dearest Alexei Fyodorovich,"—she whispered to him almost in his ear,—"Lise has just surprised me strangely, but she has also touched me, and so my heart forgives her everything.
> «милейший» — dearest, kindest: «милейший» is the superlative of «милый» (dear, sweet) in the bookish suffix «-ейший». As a form of address it is warmly effusive — 'my dearest Alexei Fyodorovich' — exactly Madame Hohlakova's gushing register.
> «свой» avoided — possessive «мое» and dative «ей»: «ей» is the dative of the person forgiven ('forgives her'), «всё» the accusative of what is forgiven. Note «сердце мое» with the possessive postposed after the noun, a slightly elevated, emotive word order.
> «умилить» — to move to tenderness: «умилить» / «умиление» denotes a soft, tender, often tearful emotion — being touched to the heart. It is a key Dostoevskian feeling-word, distinct from mere 'surprise' («удивила»), with which it is paired here.

Представьте, только что вы ушли, она вдруг искренно стала раскаиваться, что над вами будто бы смеялась вчера и сегодня.  
Just imagine, the moment you had gone, she suddenly, in all sincerity, began to repent of having seemingly laughed at you yesterday and today.
> Polite imperative «представьте»: «Представьте» ('imagine!') is the plural/polite imperative of perfective «представить», with «себе» often understood. It is a conversational hook — 'just imagine' — peppering Madame Hohlakova's chatter (cf. «представьте себе это» in s19).
> «будто бы» — alleged, supposed: «будто бы» colours the reported reason with doubt or report ('that she had supposedly laughed at you'), echoing Madame Hohlakova's view that Liza did not really laugh. «над вами смеялась» uses «смеяться над» + instrumental, 'to laugh at'.
> «только что» + perfective past: «только что ушли» — 'the moment you had just left'; «только что» plus a perfective past pins an action to the immediate recent past. «ушли» is a prefixed perfective of motion (у- 'away' + -йти).

Но ведь она не смеялась, она лишь шутила.  
But she really was not laughing, she was only joking.
> The appealing particle «ведь»: «ведь» appeals to shared knowledge — 'but you see / after all, she wasn't laughing'. It softens the assertion into something the hearer is invited to grant, a tiny but essential brushstroke of Dostoevsky's conversational voice.
> Imperfective «шутила» — was only joking: The imperfective past «шутила» views the joking as an ongoing activity/manner ('she was merely joking'), set against the denied «смеялась». «лишь» is a bookish 'only, merely', a touch more elevated than «только».

Но так серьезно раскаивалась, почти до слез, так что я удивилась.  
Yet she repented so seriously, almost to the point of tears, that I was astonished.
> Correlative «так... так что» (degree → result): «так серьёзно… так что…» links intensity to consequence: 'she repented so seriously… that I was astonished'. «так что» introduces a result clause; the perfective «удивилась» registers the single moment of astonishment.

Никогда она прежде серьезно не раскаивалась, когда надо мною смеялась, а всё в шутку.  
Never before had she seriously repented when she laughed at me, but always treated it as a jest.
> Negative concord with «никогда… не»: The negative adverb «никогда» still requires «не» on the verb — Russian uses negative concord, so 'never … not' together mean a single 'never'. The fronted «Никогда» throws emphatic weight onto the time-frame.
> «надо мною» — instrumental of «смеяться над»: «надо мною» is «над» + the instrumental of «я» (with the older fuller form «мною» and «надо» for euphony before the m-cluster). The verb «смеяться над» governs the instrumental: 'to laugh at me'.

А вы знаете, она поминутно надо мною смеется.  
And you know, she laughs at me every single minute.
> Habitual imperfective present: The imperfective present «смеётся» with «поминутно» ('every minute, constantly') expresses a habitual, repeated action — the imperfective's natural job. «А вы знаете» is a conversational tag drawing the listener in.

А вот теперь она серьезно, теперь пошло всё серьезно.  
But now she is in earnest, now it has all turned serious.
> «пошло» — inceptive 'it has started': «пошло» (perfective past of «пойти», 'to go') is used idiomatically for something setting in or getting under way: «пошло всё серьёзно» — 'now it's all turned serious / started in earnest'. The neuter «-ло» agrees with the indefinite «всё».

Она чрезвычайно ценит ваше мнение, Алексей Федорович, и если можете, то не обижайтесь на нее и не имейте претензии.  
She values your opinion extraordinarily, Alexei Fyodorovich, and if you can, do not take offense at her and bear her no grudge.
> Negated imperatives → imperfective: Negated commands in Russian normally take the imperfective: «не обижайтесь» and «не имейте». «обижайтесь» is a reflexive «-ся» imperative ('don't take offense'); after «на» the person is in the accusative («на неё»).
> «иметь претензию» — to bear a grievance: «претензия» here is a grievance or claim against someone; «не имейте претензии» means 'hold no grudge, make no complaint'. A faint Gallicism (cf. French prétention) suited to this Frenchified household.

Я сама только и делаю, что щажу ее, потому что она такая умненькая — верите ли вы?  
I myself do nothing but spare her, because she is so very clever—would you believe it?
> Idiom «только и делаю, что…»: «только и делаю, что + verb» means 'I do nothing but…', emphatically exclusive. «щажу» is the present of «щадить» (to spare), with the characteristic д→ж consonant mutation in the first person singular.
> «умненькая» — clever little thing: «умненькая» is the diminutive-expressive of «умная» (clever), in the affectionate «-еньк-» suffix — 'so clever, the dear', tender and slightly indulgent. Such suffixes carry feeling, not size.
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «верите ли вы?» ('would you believe it?') is a yes/no question formed with the enclitic «ли» after the focused verb — more literary and emphatic than mere question intonation, and very typical of Dostoevsky's spoken-sounding prose.

Она говорила сейчас, что вы были другом ее детства, — «самым серьезным другом моего детства», — представьте себе это, самым серьезным, а я-то?  
She was saying just now that you had been the friend of her childhood,—'the most serious friend of my childhood,'—just imagine that, the most serious, and what about me, then?
> Predicate instrumental «другом»: After past-tense «были», the predicate noun «другом» (friend) stands in the instrumental, not the nominative — the rule for «быть» in the past and future. The superlative «самым серьёзным другом» agrees with it in the instrumental.
> The emphatic clitic «-то» on «я»: «я-то?» — 'and what about me, then?' The hyphenated clitic «-то» here is the emphatic kind that highlights a known topic (distinct from the indefinite «-то» of «кто-то»), giving an injured, self-pitying stress to her «я».

У ней на этот счет чрезвычайно серьезные чувства и даже воспоминания, а главное, эти фразы и словечки, самые неожиданные эти словечки, так что никак не ожидаешь, а вдруг оно и выскочит.  
On that score she has extraordinarily serious feelings and even memories, but the main thing is these phrases and little turns of speech, the most unexpected little turns, so that you never expect them, and then suddenly out one pops.
> Colloquial «у ней» for «у неё»: «у ней» is a colloquial/older variant of «у неё» (possessive 'she has…'). After «у», the third-person pronoun takes the н- prefix («неё/ней»), and this dative-like «ней» form for the genitive is a period and speech flavour.
> Generalizing 2nd-person «не ожидаешь»: «не ожидаешь» is a generic 'you' (anyone) rather than 'you, Alyosha', a common Russian way of universalizing experience. «никак не» intensifies the negation: 'you simply never expect them'.
> «словечки» — little turns of phrase: «словечки» is the diminutive plural of «слово» (word) — pet phrases, droll little expressions, said with fond amusement. The diminutive conveys affection for Liza's verbal quirks rather than literal smallness.

Вот недавно о сосне, например стояла у нас в саду в ее первом детстве сосна, может и теперь стоит, так что нечего говорить в прошедшем времени.  
Lately, for instance, about a pine—there used to stand a pine in our garden in her earliest childhood, perhaps it is standing there still, so there is no need to speak in the past tense.
> Locative «в саду» and topic-final subject: «в саду» uses the special stressed locative «-у́» that a few masculine nouns take after «в/на» (в саду, в лесу), where one might expect «в са́де». Note too the subject «сосна» held to the very end — topic-comment order presenting the pine as the new information.
> Genitive-impersonal «нечего»: «нечего говорить» — 'there's no need / nothing to speak of': «нечего» is the genitive negative-existential pronoun used impersonally with an infinitive. The whole turn frames absence of necessity without any subject.

Сосны не люди, они долго не изменяются Алексей Федорович «Мама, говорит, я помню эту сосну, как со сна» — то есть «сосну, как со сна» — это как-то она иначе выразилась, потому что тут путаница, «сосна» слово глупое, но только она мне наговорила по этому поводу что-то такое оригинальное, что я решительно не возьмусь передать.  
Pines are not people, they do not change for a long time, Alexei Fyodorovich. 'Mama,' she says, 'I remember that pine as in a dream'—that is, 'a pine, as in a dream'—somehow she put it differently, because there is a muddle here, 'pine' is a silly word, but the point is she said something to me on the subject so original that I positively could not undertake to repeat it.
> Zero copula with a negated equation: «Сосны не люди» — 'pines are not people': a present-tense identity with no verb 'to be', simply negated by «не». Both nouns stand in the nominative, the unmarked form of the equative copula in the present.
> The pun «сосна / со сна»: Liza's wordplay turns on «сосна» (a pine) sounding like «со сна» ('out of a dream / on waking'), hence 'I remember that pine as if out of a dream'. Madame Hohlakova's tangled retelling — «тут путаница» — is the joke, and the untranslatable pun is flagged in our English with 'as in a dream'.
> Reflexive «взяться» + infinitive (negated): «не возьмусь передать» — 'I will not undertake to convey it': «взяться» (reflexive «-ся») plus an infinitive means 'to take it upon oneself / set about'. «возьмусь» is a perfective simple future ('I won't undertake'), and «решительно» intensifies: 'positively cannot'.

Да и всё забыла.  
And besides, I have forgotten it all.
> Additive «да и»: «Да и» chains on a further point — 'and besides / and anyway' — a colloquial coordinator adding a clinching afterthought. «забыла» is a perfective past: the forgetting is complete.

Ну, до свиданья, я очень потрясена и, наверно, с ума схожу.  
Well, good-bye, I am terribly shaken and surely going out of my mind.
> Short-form passive participle «потрясена»: «потрясена» is the feminine short form of the past passive participle «потрясённый» (shaken), used predicatively: 'I am terribly shaken'. The short form states a resultant state and is markedly bookish — comic in this gushing mouth.
> «сходить с ума» — to go mad: The idiom «сходить с ума» (literally 'to come down off one's mind') means 'to go out of one's mind, lose one's reason'. The present «схожу» here verges on the hyperbolic, in keeping with her flustered self-dramatizing.

Ах, Алексей Федорович, я два раза в жизни с ума сходила, и меня лечили.  
Ah, Alexei Fyodorovich, twice in my life I have gone out of my mind, and they treated me for it.
> Impersonal plural «лечили»: «меня лечили» — 'they treated me [for it]', the agentless third-person plural again standing for 'I was treated'. «два раза» is an accusative-of-frequency phrase ('twice').

Ступайте к Lise.  
Go in to Lise.
> «ступайте» — a brisk imperative 'go': «ступайте» is the polite imperative of «ступать», a slightly old-fashioned, faintly peremptory 'go along, off you go'. «к Lise» uses «к» + dative for motion toward a person.

Ободрите ее, как вы всегда прелестно это сумеете сделать Lise, — крикнула она, подходя к ее двери, — вот я привела к тебе столь оскорбленного тобою Алексея Федоровича, и он нисколько не сердится, уверяю тебя, напротив, удивляется, как ты могла подумать!  
Cheer her up, as you always know so charmingly how to do. Lise,"—she called out, going up to her door,—"here I have brought you Alexei Fyodorovich, whom you so insulted, and he is not in the least angry, I assure you, on the contrary, he is amazed that you could have thought such a thing!"
> «суметь» + infinitive — 'manage to': «сумеете сделать» pairs perfective «суметь» (to manage, know how) with a perfective infinitive: 'as you will always so charmingly manage to do it'. The perfective future «сумеете» reads as a confident generalization.
> Passive participle + instrumental agent: «оскорблённого тобою» is a past passive participle ('insulted') modifying «Алексея Фёдоровича» in the animate accusative, with the agent «тобою» in the instrumental — the standard way Russian names the doer of a passive. «столь» is a bookish 'so'.
> Gerund «подходя» of accompanying motion: «подходя» is the present gerund of «подходить» ('approaching, as she went up to'), expressing the motion accompanying «крикнула». «к её двери» is «к» + dative (motion toward).

— Merci, maman; войдите, Алексей Федорович.  
"Merci, maman; come in, Alexei Fyodorovich."
> Prefixed-motion imperative «войдите»: «войдите» is the polite imperative of perfective «войти» (в- 'in' + -йти), 'come in'. The prefix converts the bare motion verb «идти» into an ordinary perfective with a fixed direction.

Алеша вошел.  
Alyosha went in.
> Perfective «вошёл» moves the scene: «вошёл» (perfective past of «войти») reports a single completed entrance, advancing the narrative by one event — the perfective's storytelling role. The masculine «-ёл» past agrees with Alyosha.

Lise смотрела как-то сконфуженно и вдруг вся покраснела.  
Lise looked somehow embarrassed and suddenly flushed all over.
> Inceptive perfective «покраснела»: «покраснела» (perfective) with «вдруг» captures the sudden onset and completion of the blush — 'suddenly flushed all over'. «вся» ('all of her') agrees with the implied feminine subject, intensifying the flush.
> «сконфуженно» — in confusion: «сконфуженно» (from «сконфузиться», to be abashed) is an adverb of bashful embarrassment, a faintly Latinate, genteel word. It recurs in the chapter («перестал конфузиться», s35), tracking both young people's self-consciousness.

Она видимо чего-то стыдилась и, как всегда при этом бывает, быстро-быстро заговорила совсем о постороннем, точно этим только посторонним она и интересовалась в эту минуту.  
She was evidently ashamed of something and, as always happens in such cases, began very quickly to talk about something entirely beside the point, as though that irrelevant matter were the only thing that interested her at that moment.
> «стыдиться» + genitive: «стыдиться» (reflexive «-ся», to be ashamed) governs the genitive of what one is ashamed of: «чего-то» ('of something', specific-but-unnamed with «-то'). The genitive of the cause is built into the verb's case-frame.
> Iterative «бывает» — 'as always happens': «бывает» (imperfective, frequentative of «быть») means 'happens to be the case, tends to happen' — a generalizing aside: 'as always happens in such cases'. It steps out of the scene to state a habitual truth.
> «постороннее» — irrelevant matters: «постороннее» (used as a noun, 'the extraneous / beside-the-point') names anything outside the real subject. The whole sentence turns on it: she talks «о постороннем» to avoid what truly preoccupies her.

— Мама мне вдруг передала сейчас, Алексей Федорович, всю историю об этих двухстах рублях и об этом вам поручении… к этому бедному офицеру… и рассказала всю эту ужасную историю, как его обидели, и, знаете, хоть мама рассказывает очень нетолково… она всё перескакивает… но я слушала и плакала.  
"Mama has just suddenly told me, Alexei Fyodorovich, the whole story of those two hundred roubles and of this errand of yours… to that poor officer… and she told me the whole dreadful story of how he was insulted, and, you know, although mama tells it very incoherently… she keeps jumping about… still, I listened and I cried.
> Declined numeral «двухстах»: «двухстах рублях» shows the compound numeral «двести» (200) declined in the prepositional after «об» — both the numeral («двухстах») and the noun («рублях») take the case. Russian numerals decline through the cases when a preposition governs the whole phrase.
> Agentless plural «обидели»: «как его обидели» — 'how he was insulted', with the impersonal third-person plural standing for the passive (no named agent). «его» is the animate accusative object.
> «нетолково» — incoherently: «нетолково» (от «толковый», sensible/clear) means 'unclearly, incoherently'; «перескакивает» ('keeps jumping about') completes Liza's gentle dig at her mother's scattered storytelling — a self-aware joke embedded in the prose.

Что же, как же, отдали вы эти деньги, и как же теперь этот несчастный?..  
Well, what came of it, did you give him the money, and how is that unfortunate man now?.."
> Insistent particle «же» in questions: «Что же, как же» — 'well, what then? how, then?': the particle «же» presses and urges the question along, conveying eager impatience. It adds insistence English can only render with stress or 'then/on earth'.
> «деньги» — pluralia tantum object: «деньги» (money) exists only in the plural; «эти деньги» is its accusative plural object of «отдали» ('did you give over the money'). The perfective «отдать» asks specifically about the completed handing-over.

— То-то и есть, что не отдал, и тут целая история, — ответил Алеша, с своей стороны как бы именно более всего озабоченный тем, что деньги не отдал, а между тем Lise отлично заметила, что и он смотрит в сторону и тоже видимо старается говорить о постороннем.  
"That's just it, I did not give it to him, and there is a whole story behind it,"—answered Alyosha, as though, for his part, he were most of all troubled precisely by his not having given over the money, while Lise noticed perfectly well that he too was looking aside and was likewise evidently trying to talk about something beside the point.
> Idiom «то-то и есть» with «-то»: «То-то и есть, что…» is a fixed colloquial frame — 'that's just the point, that…' — built on the emphatic clitic «-то» doubled. It concedes and underscores at once: 'that's exactly it — I did not give it'.
> «как бы» hedging + comparative «более всего»: «как бы» softens to 'as if, as it were'; «более всего» is the comparative «более» used superlatively ('most of all'). «озабоченный» is a past passive participle in the nominative, predicating his troubled state.
> Reflexive possessive «свой» in «с своей стороны»: «с своей стороны» ('for his part') uses the reflexive possessive «свой», pointing back to the clause's subject, Alyosha. The older «с своей» (rather than modern «со своей») is a 19th-century orthographic touch.

Алеша присел к столу и стал рассказывать, но с первых же слов он совершенно перестал конфузиться и увлек, в свою очередь, Lise.  
Alyosha sat down at the table and began to tell the tale, but from his very first words he completely stopped being embarrassed and in his turn carried Lise away.
> Perfective onset «стал рассказывать»: A perfective chain: «присел» (sat down) then «стал рассказывать», where «стать» + imperfective infinitive marks the beginning of the telling. «к столу» is «к» + dative for sitting up to the table.
> «увлечь» + accusative — carried her away: «увлёк» (perfective of «увлечь», to carry away/captivate) takes the accusative «Lise»; the parenthetical «в свою очередь» means 'in his turn'. The mutual carrying-away (he had stopped being shy, now she is enthralled) is the sentence's quiet pivot.

Он говорил под влиянием сильного чувства и недавнего чрезвычайного впечатления, и рассказать ему удалось хорошо и обстоятельно.  
He spoke under the sway of a strong feeling and of a recent, extraordinary impression, and he managed to tell it well and in full detail.
> Genitive chain after «под влиянием»: «под влиянием … чувства … впечатления» strings genitives of the thing whose influence acts on him. «под влиянием» ('under the influence of') is itself an instrumental phrase governing a following genitive — a layered, bookish construction.
> Dative-subject «ему удалось»: «удалось» is impersonal: the person who succeeds stands in the dative («ему»), with an infinitive complement — «рассказать ему удалось» = 'he managed to tell'. There is no nominative subject; success 'befalls' him.
> «обстоятельно» — thoroughly, in full detail: «обстоятельно» (from «обстоятельство», circumstance) means 'circumstantially, in full and orderly detail'. It praises Alyosha's telling as the methodical opposite of Madame Hohlakova's «нетолково».

Он и прежде, еще в Москве, еще в детстве Lise, любил приходить к ней и рассказывать то из случившегося с ним сейчас, то из прочитанного, то вспоминать из прожитого им детства.  
Even earlier, back in Moscow, when Lise was still a child, he had liked to come to her and tell her either of what had just happened to him, or of what he had read, or to recall things from the childhood he had lived through.
> Imperfective infinitives for habit: «любил» + the imperfective infinitives «приходить» and «рассказывать» expresses a settled habit ('he liked to come and tell'). «приходить» is the imperfective prefixed motion verb (round trips, repeated visits), apt for recurring calls.
> Correlative «то… то…» and substantivized participles: «то… то…» means 'now this, now that', listing alternatives. «случившегося» and «прочитанного» are past participles used as nouns in the genitive after «из» ('of what had happened', 'of what he had read') — a compact, literary nominalization.

Иногда даже оба мечтали вместе и сочиняли целые повести вдвоем, но большею частью веселые и смешные.  
Sometimes the two of them even dreamed together and made up whole tales between them, but for the most part cheerful, funny ones.
> Archaic instrumental «большею частью»: «большею частью» ('for the most part') is a fixed adverbial instrumental, preserving the older bookish ending «-ею» where modern Russian writes «большей». Such frozen instrumentals of manner are common in 19th-century prose.
> «повесть» — a tale/novella: «повесть» is a literary 'tale' or short novel (Dostoevsky's own term for many of his works). That the children would «сочинять целые повести» — make up whole stories together — quietly mirrors the novelist's own art.

Теперь они оба как бы вдруг перенеслись в прежнее московское время, года два назад.  
Now it was as though they had both suddenly been carried back to the old Moscow days, a couple of years ago.
> Reflexive «перенестись» — were carried back: «перенеслись» is the reflexive/middle of «перенести» ('to transport'): «перенестись» means to be carried over, here back into the past. «как бы» hedges it to 'as though', and «вдруг' makes it sudden.
> «прежнее» — former, of old: «прежний» means 'former, earlier, of old' — «прежнее московское время» is 'the old Moscow days'. The adjective gently colours the memory with nostalgia, reinforced by «года два назад» ('a couple of years ago').

Lise была чрезвычайно растрогана его рассказом.  
Lise was extraordinarily moved by his story.
> Short participle «растрогана» + instrumental cause: «растрогана» is the feminine short past passive participle ('moved, touched'), predicating Liza's state, with the cause «его рассказом» in the instrumental — the instrumental of the agent/means in a passive. «чрезвычайно» ('extraordinarily') is a favourite Hohlakova-register intensifier echoing through the chapter.

Алеша с горячим чувством сумел нарисовать перед ней образ «Илюшечки».  
With ardent feeling Alyosha managed to draw before her the image of "little Ilyusha."
> «суметь» + perfective infinitive: «сумел нарисовать» — 'managed to draw/depict': «суметь» (to manage/be able) with a perfective infinitive, both perfective, reporting a completed feat of vivid telling. «нарисовать образ» is metaphorical, 'to paint a picture/image'.
> «Илюшечка» — little Ilyusha: «Илюшечка» is a doubly tender diminutive of «Илья/Илюша» (the boy Ilyusha Snegiryov), with the affectionate «-ечк-» suffix; the quotation marks frame it as Alyosha's own pitying word. The pathos of the whole Snegiryov episode is folded into that one caressing name.

Когда же кончил во всей подробности сцену о том, как тот несчастный человек топтал деньги, то Lise всплеснула руками и вскричала в неудержимом чувстве:  
And when he had finished, in every particular, the scene of how that unfortunate man had trampled the money, Lise clasped her hands and cried out in an irrepressible feeling:
> «когда же» + perfective sequence: «Когда же кончил…, то Lise всплеснула…» frames a 'when X, then Y' sequence with perfective verbs marking two completed events. The «же» here lends a narrative 'and when at last…'; «то» picks up the main clause.
> Imperfective «топтал» for the dwelt-on action: «топтал» (imperfective past) renders the trampling as a drawn-out, dwelt-on process within the recounted scene, against the perfectives that frame it. «тот несчастный человек» — 'that unfortunate man' — uses the distal demonstrative «тот» to point back to the known figure.
> «всплеснуть руками» — to throw up one's hands: «всплеснуть руками» is the vivid gesture of clasping/throwing up the hands in astonishment or dismay — a stock expressive movement. «в неудержимом чувстве» ('in irrepressible feeling') marks Liza's impulsive warmth.

— Так вы не отдали денег, так вы так и дали ему убежать!  
"So you did not give him the money, so you simply let him run off!
> «так и» — 'simply went and…': «так и дали ему убежать» — 'you simply let him run off (just like that)'. The «так и» before a verb conveys that the action happened plainly/unchecked. «дали убежать» is 'let/allowed to run away', with the dative «ему» as the one allowed.
> Prefixed-motion perfective «убежать»: «убежать» (у- 'away' + «бежать», to run) is a perfective verb of motion meaning 'to run off, escape'. The directional prefix у- both fixes the direction and makes the verb perfective.

Боже мой, да вы хоть бы побежали за ним сами и догнали его…  
Good heavens, you might at least have run after him yourself and caught up with him…"
> «хоть бы» + past form — reproachful irrealis: «хоть бы побежали» uses the irrealis particle «бы» on a past-form verb to reproach a thing not done: 'you might at least have run after him'. «хоть бы» means 'if only / at least', and «бы» is the engine of the unreal mood.
> «за» + instrumental (pursuit) vs accusative object: «побежали за ним» — 'ran after him', «за» + instrumental for pursuit; then «догнали его» with the animate accusative for the one overtaken. The pair «побежать / догнать» are perfectives of motion staging the imagined chase.

— Нет, Lise, этак лучше, что я не побежал, — сказал Алеша, встал со стула и озабоченно прошелся по комнате.  
"No, Lise, it is better that I did not run after him,"—said Alyosha, rising from his chair and pacing the room anxiously.
> Comparative «лучше» as predicate: «лучше» is the invariable comparative of «хороший/хорошо» (suppletive — 'better'), used predicatively in the impersonal frame 'it's better that I didn't run'. «этак» is a colloquial 'this way, so'.
> Perfective verbs of stage-action: «встал» (rose) and «прошёлся» (paced, made a turn about) are perfectives staging Alyosha's movement. «прошёлся» is the reflexive «-ся» form giving 'took a turn / paced'; «по комнате» is «по» + dative ('about the room').

— Как лучше, чем лучше?  
"How is it better, why better?
> Instrumental «чем» of the measure: «чем лучше?» — 'better by what? in what way better?': «чем» is the instrumental of «что», here asking the respect or measure. The clipped echo of «лучше» catches Liza's quick, challenging retort.

Теперь они без хлеба и погибнут!  
Now they will be without bread and will perish!"
> «без» + genitive; perfective future «погибнут»: «без хлеба» ('without bread') is «без» + genitive. «погибнут» is a perfective simple future ('will perish') — the perfective conjugated like a present yields future meaning, here a dire prediction.

— Не погибнут, потому что эти двести рублей их все-таки не минуют.  
"They will not perish, because those two hundred roubles will not pass them by all the same.
> «минуть» + accusative — 'will not pass them by': «не минуют» is a perfective future ('will not pass by, will not escape'); the two hundred roubles are the subject and «их» the accusative object — 'the money will not miss them'. «все-таки» = 'all the same, after all'.

Он всё равно возьмет их завтра.  
He will take them tomorrow regardless.
> Perfective future «возьмёт»: «возьмёт» (perfective future of «взять») predicts a single completed act — 'he will take them'. «всё равно» means 'all the same, regardless'; the perfective conveys Alyosha's confident certainty about tomorrow.

Завтра-то уж наверно возьмет, — проговорил Алеша, шагая в раздумье. — Видите ли, Lise, — продолжал он, вдруг остановясь пред ней, — я сам тут сделал одну ошибку, но и ошибка-то вышла к лучшему.  
Tomorrow he will certainly take them,"—pronounced Alyosha, striding along in thought.—"You see, Lise,"—he went on, suddenly stopping before her,—"I myself made a mistake here, but even the mistake turned out for the best."
> Emphatic «-то» + «уж»: «Завтра-то уж наверно» piles the topic-emphatic clitic «-то» on «завтра» with the insistent particle «уж» ('to be sure') — 'tomorrow, now, he'll certainly take them'. The particles convey settled conviction.
> Perfective gerund «остановясь»: «остановясь» is a perfective past gerund ('having stopped, stopping suddenly') of «остановиться», naming the prior/coincident action to «продолжал». The «-ясь» form (beside «остановившись») is the more bookish, period variant; «пред» is the archaic «перед».
> Idiom «выйти к лучшему» — to turn out for the best: «вышла к лучшему» ('turned out for the best') uses perfective «выйти» idiomatically for how a thing ends up; «к лучшему» = «к» + dative of the comparative «лучшее». The «-то» on «ошибка» again marks the topic with a faint stress.

— Какая ошибка и почему к лучшему?  
"What mistake, and why for the best?"
> Interrogative «какой» agreeing as feminine: «Какая ошибка?» — 'what mistake?': the interrogative «какой» (which/what kind) agrees like an adjective with the feminine «ошибка». Liza's two-part question presses both for the fact and the reason.

— А вот почему, это человек трусливый и слабый характером.  
"Here is why: he is a timid man and weak in character.
> Instrumental of respect «слабый характером»: «слабый характером» — 'weak in character': the instrumental «характером» specifies in what respect he is weak (instrumental of limitation/respect). The zero-copula 'this is a … man' frames the whole characterization.

Он такой измученный и очень добрый.  
He is so worn out, and very kind.
> «измученный» — worn out, tormented: «измученный» is the past passive participle of «измучить» (to wear out, torment utterly), used adjectivally: 'so worn out, harrowed'. The prefix из- gives the sense of being exhausted to the very limit.

Я вот теперь всё думаю: чем это он так вдруг обиделся и деньги растоптал, потому что, уверяю вас, он до самого последнего мгновения не знал, что растопчет их.  
I keep thinking now: what was it that made him take offense so suddenly and trample the money, because, I assure you, up to the very last instant he himself did not know that he would trample it.
> Instrumental «чем» — cause of taking offense: «обидеться» ('to take offense', reflexive «-ся») governs «чем» — the instrumental of «что» — for the thing one is offended by: 'at what did he so suddenly take offense'. «это» here is an emphatic particle, not a pronoun.
> Perfective future in reported thought «растопчет»: Within «не знал, что растопчет их», the perfective future «растопчет» ('that he would trample them') reports a future-relative-to-past event. The «что» is the reporting conjunction 'that', set off by a comma.

И вот мне кажется, что он многим тут обиделся… да и не могло быть иначе в его положении…  
And it seems to me that he took offense at a great many things here… and it could not have been otherwise, given his position…
> Dative-subject «мне кажется» + instrumental «многим»: «мне кажется» is the dative-experiencer impersonal ('it seems to me'). «обиделся многим» again pairs «обидеться» with an instrumental of cause — «многим» ('by many things'), the instrumental of «многое».
> Impersonal «не могло быть иначе»: «не могло быть иначе» ('it could not have been otherwise') is a subjectless modal with neuter «могло»; «в его положении» ('given his position') sets the circumstance. A compact way to state inevitability without a subject.

Во-первых, он уж тем обиделся, что слишком при мне деньгам обрадовался и предо мною этого не скрыл.  
In the first place, he took offense at the very fact that he had rejoiced too much over the money in front of me and had not hidden it from me.
> Instrumental «тем» anticipating a «что»-clause: «тем… что…» is a correlative: «тем» (instrumental of «то») is the cause of «обиделся», spelled out by the following «что»-clause — 'he took offense at the very fact that…'. A classic Russian way to embed a clausal cause.
> «обрадоваться» + dative «деньгам»: «обрадоваться» ('to be gladdened by') governs the dative of what delights one: «деньгам» ('at the money'). «при мне» is «при» + prepositional, 'in my presence'.

Если б обрадовался, да не очень, не показал этого, фасоны бы стал делать, как другие, принимая деньги, кривляться, ну тогда бы еще мог снести и принять, а то он уж слишком правдиво обрадовался, а это-то и обидно.  
Had he rejoiced, but not too much, had he not shown it, had he put on airs as others do when they take money, made a show of reluctance, then he might still have endured it and accepted, but as it was he rejoiced too truthfully, and that is just what is humiliating.
> Counterfactual «если б… тогда бы…»: A full unreal conditional: «если б … тогда бы … мог снести» — 'had he rejoiced … then he might still have endured it'. Both halves use past-form verbs with the particle «бы/б» («б» being the reduced enclitic), the apodosis carrying «бы» on «тогда».
> «делать фасоны» — to put on airs: «фасоны делать» (от «фасон», a cut/style, fashion) is a colloquial idiom 'to put on airs, make a show'. Paired with «кривляться» ('to grimace, posture'), it pictures the affected reluctance others fake when taking money.
> Dative-less impersonal «обидно» with «-то и»: «обидно» is an impersonal predicate adverb ('it is galling/humiliating'); «это-то и обидно» = 'and that is just what is humiliating', with «-то и» singling out the precise point. Such «-о» predicatives are the backbone of Russian's feeling-statements.

Ах, Lise, он правдивый и добрый человек, вот в этом-то и вся беда в этих случаях!  
Ah, Lise, he is a truthful and kind man, and that is precisely the whole trouble in cases like this!
> Cleft emphasis «вот в этом-то и…»: «вот в этом-то и вся беда» — 'and that is precisely the whole trouble': «вот … и» frames an emphatic cleft, «-то» pinning the locus («в этом», prepositional after «в»). The piled particles drive home Alyosha's insight.
> «беда» — trouble, calamity: «беда» is misfortune, calamity, 'the trouble of it' — a weighty, almost fated word in Russian, heavier than English 'trouble'. Here it names the paradox that the man's very truthfulness is what undoes him.

У него всё время, пока он тогда говорил, голос был такой слабый, ослабленный, и говорил он так скоро-скоро, всё как-то хихикал таким смешком, или уже плакал… право, он плакал, до того он был в восхищении… и про дочерей своих говорил… и про место, что ему в другом городе дадут…  
The whole time he was talking, his voice was so weak, so feeble, and he spoke so very fast, kept somehow giggling with a sort of little laugh, or else was already weeping… honestly, he was weeping, he was in such rapture… and he spoke of his daughters… and of the post he would be given in another town…
> Imperfective «был» for the sustained state: The whole sentence stays in the imperfective past («был», «говорил», «хихикал», «плакал») to hold a continuous, lingering picture of the captain's faltering manner. The participle «ослабленный» ('weakened') intensifies «слабый».
> «хихикать», «смешок» — nervous tittering: «хихикать» is to titter/giggle nervously, and «смешок» is the diminutive of «смех» (laugh) — 'a little laugh'. The instrumental «таким смешком» ('with such a little laugh') and the suffix together convey a pitiful, embarrassed giggle.
> Impersonal plural «дадут» (future): «дадут» is the perfective future, impersonal third-person plural — 'that they would give him' = 'that he would be given' a post. «ему» is the dative recipient; the agentless plural is Russian's everyday passive substitute.

И чуть только излил душу, вот вдруг ему и стыдно стало за то, что он так всю душу мне показал.  
And the moment he had poured out his soul, suddenly he felt ashamed of having shown me his whole soul like that.
> «чуть только» + dative-subject «ему стыдно стало»: «чуть только излил» ('the moment he had poured out') marks the instant of completion; the main clause is the dative-experiencer «ему стыдно стало» — 'he felt ashamed', with «стало» making the shame come on suddenly. No nominative subject: the feeling befalls him.
> «излить душу» — to pour out one's soul: «излить душу» ('to pour out the soul') is the heightened idiom of unburdening one's whole inner self — echoed in «всю душу мне показал». This baring of the soul, and the shame that instantly follows it, is the very heart of the Dostoevskian psychology Alyosha is diagnosing.

Вот он меня сейчас и возненавидел.  
And so at once he came to hate me.
> Narrative «вот… и» framing: The frame «вот… и» ("and so, just like that…") presents an outcome as the natural, almost inevitable upshot of what preceded; the particle «и» here is not "and" but an emphatic "precisely then." Spoken Alyosha leans on these particles to dramatize a turn of events.
> «возненавидеть» — to come to hate: The prefix «воз-» on «ненавидеть» (to hate) marks the perfective onset: not "hated" as a state but "conceived a hatred," the very moment hatred set in. «сейчас» here is old-fashioned for "at once, straightaway," not "right now."

А он из ужасно стыдливых бедных.  
And he is one of those terribly bashful poor people.
> Partitive «из» + genitive plural: «из» ("out of, from among") governs the genitive and frames a person as one member drawn from a class: "one of those bashful poor folk." The adjectives «стыдливых… бедных» stand substantivized in the genitive plural — «бедных» works as a noun, "the poor."
> «стыдливый» — bashful, easily shamed: «стыдливый» (from «стыд», shame) is the quality of being quick to feel shame or embarrassment — touchier than English "shy." It keys the whole psychology of the wounded captain Snegiryov: a pride built on the fear of humiliation.

Главное же, обиделся тем, что слишком скоро меня за своего друга принял и скоро мне сдался; то бросался на меня, пугал, а тут вдруг, только что увидел деньги, и стал меня обнимать.  
But the chief thing is, he took offense at having accepted me as his friend too quickly and given in to me too quickly; at first he threw himself at me, frightened me, and then suddenly, the moment he saw the money, he began to embrace me.
> Reflexive «-ся» + instrumental «тем»: «обидеться» (to take offense) is a reflexive verb whose cause is expressed by the instrumental «тем, что…» — literally "was offended by the fact that." The «-ся» turns transitive «обидеть» (to offend someone) into an inward state.
> «принять за» + accusative — to take as: «принять кого за кого» means "to accept/take someone as" — here "accepted me as his friend." «своего друга» uses the reflexive possessive «свой» because the friend belongs to the clause's own subject (he).
> Imperfective vs perfective in narration: The imperfective «бросался… пугал» paints repeated, ongoing behavior ("kept throwing himself, kept frightening"), against which the perfectives «увидел… стал» mark the single decisive turns. This is aspect doing the work of an English contrast between "used to" and "suddenly did."

Потому что он меня обнимал, всё руками трогал.  
For he kept embracing me, kept touching me with his hands.
> Iterative imperfective + instrumental of means: The imperfective past «трогал» with «всё» ("keeps on, all the while") reads as repeated, insistent action. «руками» is the instrumental of means — "with his hands" — the case that names the instrument of an action.

Это именно вот в таком виде он должен был всё это унижение почувствовать, а тут как раз я эту ошибку сделал, очень важную: я вдруг и скажи ему, что если денег у него недостанет на переезд в другой город, то ему еще дадут, и даже я сам ему дам из моих денег сколько угодно.  
It was precisely in such a frame of mind that he was bound to feel the whole of this humiliation, and just then I happened to make a mistake, a very serious one: I suddenly up and told him that if he had not enough money for the move to another town, he would be given more, and that I myself would even give him as much as he liked out of my own money.
> «должен был» + perfective infinitive — bound to: «должен был» here is not obligation but necessity/inevitability: "was bound to feel." It pairs with the perfective infinitive «почувствовать», viewing the feeling as a single accomplished event he could not escape.
> The "dramatic imperative" «скажи»: «скажи» looks like a command but is the colloquial narrative imperative: a past-tense form using the imperative ending to convey a sudden, unexpected action — "and I suddenly up and told him." The added «и» and «вдруг» heighten the abruptness.
> Genitive of negation with «недостанет»: «недостанет» ("there will not be enough") is impersonal, and the thing in short supply, «денег», stands in the genitive — the genitive of a negated/absent quantity, paralleling «нет денег.»
> Indefinite-personal «дадут»: Third-person plural «дадут» with no subject is the indefinite-personal construction — "they'll give him more" = "he'll be given more." «ему» is the dative recipient.

Вот это вдруг его и поразило: зачем, дескать, и я выскочил ему помогать?  
That is what suddenly struck him: why, he thought, must I too leap forward to help him?
> Topic-comment fronting with «вот это»: «Вот это» fronts the topic ("this — precisely this") before the verb «поразило», a topic-comment order that case-marking makes possible: «это» is here the subject and «его» the accusative object, sorted out by form, not position.
> «дескать» — reportative "he says/thinks": «дескать» is a quotative particle flagging that the following words report someone else's thought or speech, often with a shade of irony — here Alyosha voices Snegiryov's inner objection. Like «мол» and «де», it has no clean English equivalent; we render it "he thought."

Знаете, Lise, это ужасно как тяжело для обиженного человека, когда все на него станут смотреть его благодетелями… я это слышал, мне это старец говорил.  
You know, Lise, it is dreadfully hard for an injured man when everyone begins to look upon him as his benefactors… I have heard this, the elder told me so.
> Impersonal predicate «тяжело»: «тяжело» is an impersonal predicative ("it is hard"), with no nominative subject; the affected party is introduced by «для» + genitive. The colloquial «ужасно как» ("dreadfully so") intensifies it.
> Instrumental of the predicate role: «смотреть на кого как на…» normally takes «как на», but the instrumental «благодетелями» here frames the role people assume toward him — "to look upon him as benefactors," the instrumental marking an assumed capacity.

Я не знаю, как это выразить, но я это часто и сам видел.  
I do not know how to put it, but I have often seen it for myself, too.
> Intensive «сам» — myself: «сам» ("oneself, in person") intensifies the subject: "I have often seen it myself." Reinforced by «и» it stresses Alyosha's firsthand witness as distinct from what the elder merely told him in the previous line.

Да я ведь и сам точно так же чувствую.  
Why, I feel exactly the same way myself.
> Particle pile-up «да… ведь… и»: Three particles cluster: «да» opens with a confiding "why,"; «ведь» appeals to shared understanding ("after all, you know"); «и» with «сам» adds "I too, myself." Such stacking is the very texture of Dostoevsky's spoken voice.

А главное то, что хоть он и не знал до самого последнего мгновения, что растопчет кредитки, но все-таки это предчувствовал, это уж непременно.  
And the main thing is that, although he did not know up to the very last instant that he would trample the banknotes, still he had a foreboding of it, that is beyond doubt.
> Concessive «хоть… но» with «и»: «хоть… но» ("although… still") frames a concession; the «и» inside the «хоть»-clause emphasizes the conceded verb («хоть он и не знал» = "even though he did NOT know"). The clause uses simple sentential negation, «не знал» (negative concord would require an additional ни-word).
> Perfective future «растопчет»: «растопчет» is a perfective verb conjugated like a present, which yields future meaning inside the reported clause: "that he would trample (and finish trampling) the banknotes." The «рас-» prefix adds the sense of grinding it utterly underfoot.

Потому-то и восторг у него был такой сильный, что он предчувствовал…  
That is precisely why his ecstasy was so strong, because he had a foreboding of it…
> Emphatic «потому-то… и»: The clitic «-то» on «потому» ("that is precisely why") emphasizes the known cause, and «и» before the predicate underscores the consequence. «у него был» is the Russian "have" pattern — possession via «у» + genitive plus «быть».
> «восторг» — rapture, ecstasy: «восторг» is a heightened, almost spiritual exaltation, stronger than "delight." Applied to the captain's wild reaction, it carries Dostoevsky's characteristic fusion of self-abasement and ecstatic pride; the same word colors Alyosha's own «упоение» (rapture) below.

И вот хоть всё это так скверно, но все-таки к лучшему.  
And so, although all this is so wretched, still it is for the best.
> «к лучшему» — dative of "for the best": «к лучшему» ("toward the better, for the best") uses «к» + dative of the comparative «лучшее». The concessive «хоть… но все-таки» again sets the wretchedness against the redemptive outcome.
> «скверно» — foul, wretched, nasty: «скверный» originally meant ritually unclean or vile; weakened, it now means "bad, wretched, rotten." Here «скверно» is the moral ugliness of the whole episode, which Alyosha insists is nonetheless "for the best."

Я так даже думаю, что к самому лучшему, лучше и быть не могло…  
I even think it is for the very best, that it could not have turned out better…
> Superlative «самый» + «лучший»: «самый» is the periphrastic superlative marker, declining with its adjective; «к самому лучшему» = "for the very best." Combined with the already-suppletive comparative «лучший» (from «хороший»), it pushes the claim to its extreme.
> «не могло быть» — could not have been: Impersonal «быть не могло» ("it could not have been") with comparative «лучше» voices counterfactual certainty: nothing better was possible. The «и» again emphasizes the negated verb, a hallmark of this insistent spoken register.

— Почему, почему лучше и быть не могло? — воскликнула Lise, с большим удивлением смотря на Алешу.  
"Why, why could it not have turned out better?"—exclaimed Lise, looking at Alyosha with great astonishment.
> Imperfective gerund «смотря»: «смотря» is the present (imperfective) деепричастие of «смотреть» — "(while) looking," an attendant circumstance simultaneous with «воскликнула». It shares the main subject, Lise, and packs her gaze into a single adverbial.
> «Lise» — the French form of Liza: Dostoevsky writes Lise's name in French ("Lise" for Liza/Lizaveta), a fashionable affectation of gentry households where French was the language of refinement. The Latin script in the Russian text signals her class and her girlish, half-playful self-styling.

— Потому, Lise, что если б он не растоптал, а взял эти деньги, то, придя домой, чрез час какой-нибудь и заплакал бы о своем унижении, вот что вышло бы непременно.  
"Because, Lise, if he had not trampled the money but had taken it, then, having come home, within an hour or so he would have wept over his humiliation, that is what would surely have happened.
> Counterfactual conditional with «бы»: A textbook irrealis: «если б… то… заплакал бы», past-tense verbs plus the particle «бы», expressing a hypothetical that did not happen — "if he had not trampled… he would have wept." The contrastive «а» ("but rather") opposes the two outcomes.
> Perfective gerund «придя»: «придя» is the perfective past деепричастие of «прийти» — "having come (home)," a prior completed action framing the weeping that follows. Note the prefixed motion verb «прийти» (при- + idti), arrival viewed as a single accomplished act.
> «чрез» — bookish for «через»: «чрез» is the elevated, contracted variant of «через» ("within, after [a span]"), a literary flavor typical of 19th-century prose. «какой-нибудь» here softens to "an hour or so, some hour or other."

Заплакал бы и, пожалуй, завтра пришел бы ко мне чем свет и бросил бы, может быть, мне кредитки и растоптал бы как давеча.  
He would have wept and, very likely, would have come to me at first light tomorrow and flung the banknotes at me, perhaps, and trampled them as he did just now.
> Chain of conditional «бы» verbs: The whole sentence is a cascade of «бы» counterfactuals ("would have wept… would have come… would have flung… would have trampled"), the particle riding each past-tense verb. The mobile «бы» can repeat freely across coordinated predicates.
> «чем свет» — at the crack of dawn: «чем свет» (more fully «чуть свет») is an idiom meaning "at first light, very early in the morning," literally "as soon as it's light." It heightens the picture of the captain rushing over at daybreak in his shame.
> «давеча» — "a little while ago": «давеча» is a colloquial, now-archaic adverb for "earlier today, just now, a short while back." It belongs to the homely, slightly old-fashioned speech Dostoevsky gives his characters; we render it "just now."

А теперь он ушел ужасно гордый и с торжеством, хоть и знает, что «погубил себя».  
But now he has gone off terribly proud and triumphant, even though he knows that he has 'ruined himself.'
> Predicative adjective of manner «гордый»: «гордый» (proud) agrees with the masculine subject in the nominative and works almost adverbially — "he went off proud," describing his state as he left. It pairs with the prepositional phrase «с торжеством» ("in triumph").
> Reflexive pronoun «себя»: «себя» is the reflexive object pronoun pointing back to the subject (he ruined himself); unlike the verbal clitic «-ся», it is a full object with its own case forms and no nominative. The quotation marks mark it as the captain's own melodramatic phrase.

А стало быть, теперь уж ничего нет легче, как заставить его принять эти же двести рублей не далее как завтра, потому что он уж свою честь доказал, деньги швырнул, растоптал…  
And so nothing could be easier now than to make him accept these same two hundred roubles no later than tomorrow, because he has already proved his honour, he has flung the money down, trampled it…
> «нет легче» — genitive comparative of ease: «ничего нет легче, как…» ("nothing is easier than to…") combines the existential negative «нет» (which takes genitive «ничего») with the comparative «легче» and «как» + infinitive. The negation drives «ничего» into the genitive.

Не мог же он знать, когда топтал, что я завтра их ему опять принесу.  
He could not have known, while he trampled it, that I would bring it back to him again tomorrow.
> Particle «же» in negation + fronting: «же» here insists on the obvious ("he surely could NOT have known"), wedged between the negated «не мог» and the subject. The inversion «не мог же он» throws the rhetorical weight onto the impossibility.
> Imperfective «топтал» — while trampling: The imperfective past «топтал» (vs. perfective «растоптал» elsewhere) views the trampling as an ongoing process — "while he was trampling" — the durative backdrop to the point he could not have known.

А между тем деньги-то эти ему ужасно как ведь нужны.  
And yet this money is dreadfully needed by him.
> Particles «-то» and «ведь» + dative of need: «деньги-то» foregrounds the money as the known topic; «ведь» appeals to the obvious. Need is expressed impersonally: «ему… нужны», dative experiencer plus the short adjective «нужны» agreeing with «деньги».

Хоть он теперь и горд, а все-таки ведь даже сегодня будет думать о том, какой помощи он лишился.  
Though he is proud now, still he will surely be thinking even today of what help he has deprived himself of.
> «лишиться» + genitive: The reflexive «лишиться» ("to lose, be deprived of") governs the genitive: «какой помощи» ("what help") stands in the genitive as its complement. The correlative «о том, …» sets up the embedded indirect question.
> Short adjective «горд» in concession: «горд» is the short (predicative) form of «гордый», bookish and stative — "he is proud." Short forms thrive in such generalizing, sententious clauses; the «хоть… а все-таки» frame concedes his pride before the "but."

Ночью будет еще сильнее думать, во сне будет видеть, а к завтрашнему утру, пожалуй, готов будет ко мне бежать и прощенья просить.  
At night he will think of it still more keenly, he will see it in his dreams, and by tomorrow morning, very likely, he will be ready to run to me and beg my pardon.
> Compound imperfective future: «будет думать», «будет видеть» are the analytic imperfective future — «будет» plus an imperfective infinitive — naming ongoing, repeated future action ("he will keep thinking… will keep seeing"). By contrast «готов будет… бежать» = 'will be ready to run' (short adjective «готов» + future of «быть» + imperfective infinitive «бежать») is not a perfective future.
> «просить прощенья» — genitive object: «просить» (to ask for) takes the genitive of the thing requested when abstract: «прощенья» (genitive of «прощение», forgiveness). The colloquial spelling «прощенья» for «прощения» reflects spoken contraction.

А я-то вот тут и явлюсь: «Вот, дескать, вы гордый человек, вы доказали, ну теперь возьмите, простите нас».  
And it is just then that I shall turn up: 'There now,' I shall say, 'you are a proud man, you have proved it, well, now take it, forgive us.'
> Emphatic «я-то… и» + perfective future: «я-то» spotlights the speaker ("I, for my part"); «вот тут… и» pins the dramatic moment; «явлюсь» is the perfective future of reflexive «явиться» — "I shall (suddenly) appear." The whole frame stages Alyosha's imagined timely entrance.

Вот тут-то он и возьмет!  
And then he will take it!"
> Triple emphasis «вот… -то… и»: Three emphatic devices converge — «вот», the clitic «-то» on «тут», and «и» before the verb — to clinch the climactic prediction: "And THEN he will take it!" «возьмет» is the perfective future of «взять».

Алеша с каким-то упоением произнес: «Вот тут-то он и возьмет!»  
Alyosha pronounced, with a kind of rapture: "And then he will take it!"
> «упоение» — rapture, intoxication: «упоение» (instrumental «упоением», "with rapture") is an ecstatic, self-forgetting exaltation — literally a being "drunk" with feeling (root «пои-», to give to drink). It marks Alyosha's almost mystical excitement at his scheme, echoing the captain's «восторг».
> Indefinite «какой-то» + instrumental of manner: «с каким-то упоением» ("with a kind of rapture") uses «какой-то» — the «-то» indefinite marking a real but hard-to-name quality — with «с» governing the instrumental of accompanying manner.

Lise захлопала в ладошки.  
Lise clapped her hands.
> «ладошки» — affectionate "little hands": «ладошки» is the diminutive of «ладони» (palms); «захлопать в ладошки» = "to clap one's little hands." The tender suffix conveys Lise's childlike, delighted gesture — the narrator's affection captured in the word's very ending.
> Inceptive perfective «за-»: The prefix «за-» on «хлопать» (to clap) gives the perfective «захлопать» an inceptive sense — "began to clap, burst into clapping" — viewing the onset of the action as a single event.

— Ах, это правда, ах, я это ужасно вдруг поняла!  
"Ah, that is true, ah, I have suddenly understood it all so dreadfully well!
> Feminine past «поняла»: «поняла» is the perfective past of «понять», marked feminine by the stressed ending «-ла» (Lise speaking of herself). Russian's past tense agrees in gender, a relic of an old participle; «понял» would be a male speaker.

Ах, Алеша, как вы всё это знаете?  
Ah, Alyosha, how do you know all this?
> Polite «вы» + present «знаете»: Lise addresses Alyosha with «вы», the polite/formal "you," though they are intimates — a marker of decorous, slightly playful distance between the young pair. «знаете» is its first-conjugation present form (знаю, знаешь… знаете, the -ете type).

Такой молодой и уж знает, что в душе… Я бы никогда этого не выдумала…  
So young, and already he knows what is in a soul… I should never have thought it up…"
> Conditional «бы» + negative concord: «я бы… не выдумала» is the conditional ("I would never have thought it up"), past-form verb plus «бы». Note the negative concord: «никогда» (never) coexists with «не» — Russian piles negatives, «никогда… не», for a single negation.
> Locative «в душе» — prepositional: «в душе» ("in a soul, within") takes the prepositional case after «в» for location, not motion. «душа» is one of Dostoevsky's keywords; here "what is in a soul" is the moral interior Alyosha seems to read.

— Его, главное, надо теперь убедить в том, что он со всеми нами на равной ноге, несмотря на то, что он у нас деньги берет, — продолжал в своем упоении Алеша, — и не только на равной, но даже на высшей ноге…  
"The main thing now is to convince him that he stands on an equal footing with all of us, in spite of his taking money from us,"—Alyosha went on in his rapture,—"and not only on an equal footing, but even on a higher footing…"
> Impersonal «надо» + «убедить в том»: «надо» is the impersonal predicate of necessity ("one must"), with no nominative subject and an infinitive «убедить». «убедить в том, что…» = "convince of the fact that," with «в том» in the prepositional anticipating the clause.
> Concessive «несмотря на то, что»: «несмотря на то, что…» ("in spite of the fact that") is a fixed concessive conjunction — literally "not looking at the fact that" — introducing the clause that he does take money from them. «на то» is accusative governed by «несмотря на».
> на равной ноге (on an equal footing): The idiom «на равной ноге», literally "on an equal leg/foot," means "on an equal footing." Alyosha then coins «на высшей ноге» ("on a higher footing"), which is not standard Russian — Lise teases him for inventing the phrase. English happens to share the same "footing" metaphor, so we can keep both the idiom and the joke intact: "an equal footing" / "a higher footing."

— "На высшей ноге" — прелестно, Алексей Федорович, но говорите, говорите!  
"'On a higher footing'—charming, Alexei Fyodorovich, but go on, go on!"
> Imperative «говорите» (polite/plural): «говорите» is the imperative of «говорить» with the «-те» that marks plural or polite address, doubled for urgency — "go on, go on!" Matching her «вы», Lise keeps the courteous form even while eagerly egging him on.

— То есть я не так выразился… про высшую ногу… но это ничего, потому что…  
"That is, I did not put it quite right… about a higher footing… but it does not matter, because…"
> Reflexive «выразиться» — to express oneself: «выразиться» ("to put it, express oneself") is the reflexive of «выразить»; «не так выразился» = "I did not put it right." The masculine «-ся» past «выразился» marks Alyosha as the (male) speaker.

— Ах, ничего, ничего, конечно ничего!  
"Ah, it does not matter, it does not matter, of course it does not matter!
> «ничего» as "it's nothing / never mind": Triply repeated «ничего» (genitive of «ничто») here is idiomatic for "it's nothing, never mind, it doesn't matter," not a literal "nothing." The genitive form is frozen into the dismissive expression.

Простите, Алеша, милый… Знаете, я вас до сих пор почти не уважала… то есть уважала, да на равной ноге, а теперь буду на высшей уважать…  
Forgive me, Alyosha, my dear… You know, until now I have hardly respected you… that is, I did respect you, but on an equal footing, and now I shall respect you on a higher one…
> Imperfective negation «не уважала»: «не уважала» is imperfective past — a continuing state of not respecting up to now — paired with «до сих пор» ("until now"). Lise then corrects herself with the same verb, contrasting degrees of respect.
> Compound future «буду уважать»: «буду уважать» is the imperfective compound future — «буду» + imperfective infinitive — naming ongoing future respect ("I shall [go on] respecting you"). Lise reuses Alyosha's coined «на высшей [ноге]» to flatter him.

Милый, не сердитесь, что я «острю», — подхватила она тотчас же с сильным чувством. — Я смешная и маленькая, но вы, вы…  
My dear, do not be angry that I am 'being witty,'"—she put in at once with strong feeling.—"I am a silly little thing, but you, you…"
> «острить» — to be witty, make jokes: «острить» (here «острю», "I'm being witty") means to crack jokes or be clever, from «острый» (sharp). Lise puts it in quotation marks, self-mockingly flagging her own quip; we render it "being witty."
> Feminine adjectives «смешная… маленькая»: Lise describes herself with long-form feminine nominative adjectives agreeing with the implicit «я» — "I am a silly, little thing." The zero copula (no "am") is normal in the present; gender shows she speaks of herself.

Слушайте, Алексей Федорович, нет ли тут во всем этом рассуждении нашем, то есть вашем… нет, уж лучше нашем… нет ли тут презрения к нему, к этому несчастному… в том, что мы так его душу теперь разбираем, свысока точно, а?  
"Listen, Alexei Fyodorovich, is there not, in all this reasoning of ours—that is, of yours… no, better ours… is there not some contempt for him here, for this unfortunate man… in the very fact that we are now picking apart his soul like this, from on high, as it were—is there not?
> Interrogative «ли» + genitive of negation: «нет ли…» fronts the existential negative «нет» with the question particle «ли» — "is there not…?" The thing whose existence is questioned, «презрения» (contempt), stands in the genitive after «нет».
> Imperfective «разбираем» — dissecting: «разбираем» is first-person plural present of imperfective «разбирать», here figurative: "we are picking apart / analyzing his soul." The present-tense imperfective conveys the ongoing act they are caught in the middle of.
> «свысока» — condescendingly, from on high: «свысока» ("from above, haughtily") is an adverb built from «с» + «высоко»; «смотреть свысока» is to look down on someone. Lise's worry is precisely this stance of condescension toward the unfortunate captain.

В том, что так наверно решили теперь, что он деньги примет, а?  
In the very fact that we have so confidently decided now that he will accept the money—is there not?"
> Perfective future «примет» in reported clause: «примет» is the perfective future of «принять» — "that he will accept (and finish accepting)" — embedded under «решили, что…». The trailing «а?» is a colloquial tag inviting agreement ("…isn't there?").

— Нет, Lise, нет презрения, — твердо ответил Алеша, как будто уже приготовленный к этому вопросу, — я уж об этом сам думал, идя сюда.  
"No, Lise, there is no contempt,"—Alyosha answered firmly, as though already prepared for this question,—"I was thinking of this very thing myself on my way here.
> Past passive participle «приготовленный»: «приготовленный» is the past passive participle of «приготовить» ("prepared"), agreeing with «Алеша» — "as though already prepared for this question." It condenses a passive into a single modifier, with «к» + dative naming what he was prepared for.
> Imperfective gerund «идя»: «идя» is the present деепричастие of the unidirectional motion verb «идти» — "(while) walking here." It expresses simultaneity with «думал»: he was pondering this as he came. A bare motion verb, not yet prefixed.

Рассудите, какое уж тут презрение, когда мы сами такие же, как он, когда все такие же, как он.  
Consider, what contempt can there be here, when we ourselves are just the same as he is, when everyone is just the same as he is.
> Rhetorical «какое… презрение» + «уж»: A rhetorical exclamation-question: «какое уж тут презрение» = "what contempt can there even be here?" The particle «уж» (a reduced «уже») adds insistent dismissal. «какое» agrees with neuter «презрение».
> «такой же, как» — just the same as: «такой же… как» ("just the same as") sets up a comparison of likeness; «такие же» is nominative plural agreeing with the implied "we." The «же» fixes the sense of exact identity — we are no different from him.

Потому что ведь и мы такие же, не лучше .  
For we too are just the same, no better.
> «ведь» + comparative «не лучше»: «ведь» appeals to shared truth ("for, after all"); «не лучше» is the negated comparative of «хороший» (suppletive «лучше»), "no better." The zero copula leaves "are" unspoken, normal in the present.

А если б и лучше были, то были бы все-таки такие же на его месте…  
And even if we were better, we would still be just the same in his place…
> Counterfactual «если б… то были бы»: Another irrealis conditional: «если б… были… то были бы» — "even if we were better, we would still be the same." The «бы» rides the past-form «были» in both halves; concessive «и» ("even") strengthens the supposition.
> «на его месте» — in his place: «на его месте» ("in his place/position") takes the prepositional «месте» after «на» for location. «его» is the frozen third-person possessive, invariable — "his."

Я не знаю, как вы, Lise, но я считаю про себя, что у меня во многом мелкая душа.  
I do not know about you, Lise, but I count myself, in many ways, to have a petty soul.
> «про себя» — reflexive «себя» with «про»: «про себя» ("to/about myself, inwardly") uses the reflexive pronoun «себя» governed by «про» + accusative. Possession of the petty soul is the «у меня… душа» pattern. «мелкая душа» = a petty, small soul.

А у него и не мелкая, напротив, очень деликатная… Нет, Lise, нет тут никакого презрения к нему!  
But his soul is not petty; on the contrary, it is very delicate… No, Lise, there is no contempt for him here whatsoever!
> Ellipsis + gendered agreement «деликатная»: The noun «душа» is elided but its feminine endings persist in «мелкая… деликатная» — adjective agreement keeps the dropped soul present. «у него… не мелкая» continues the "have"-construction with «у» + genitive.
> Negative «никакого» + genitive of negation: «нет… никакого презрения» piles negative concord (existential «нет» + «никакого») with the genitive of negation: «никакого презрения» genitive after «нет» — "there is no contempt whatsoever."

Знаете, Lise, мой старец сказал один раз: за людьми сплошь надо как за детьми ходить, а за иными как за больными в больницах …  
You know, Lise, my elder once said: with most people one must go about as with children, and with some as with the sick in hospitals…
> «ходить за» + instrumental — to tend: «ходить за кем» ("to tend, look after") governs the instrumental: «за людьми… за детьми… за больными.» The contrastive «а» pairs the two kinds of care. «иными» is the bookish «иной» ("some, certain others").

— Ах, Алексей Федорович, ах, голубчик, давайте за людьми как за больными ходить!  
"Ah, Alexei Fyodorovich, ah, my darling, let us go about with people as with the sick!"
> «голубчик» — "my dear, little dove": «голубчик» is an affectionate term of endearment, diminutive of «голубь» (dove) — "my dear, darling." It is warm and intimate, here Lise's tender address to Alyosha; the diminutive suffix carries the affection.
> Hortative «давайте» + infinitive: «давайте» + infinitive forms the first-person-plural exhortation — "let us tend people…" The polite/plural «-те» on «давай» matches Lise's «вы» to Alyosha. A direct invitation to share the elder's way.

— Давайте, Lise, я готов, только я сам не совсем готов; я иной раз очень нетерпелив, а в другой раз и глазу у меня нет.  
"Let us, Lise, I am ready, only I myself am not quite ready; sometimes I am very impatient, and at other times I have no eye for it at all.
> Short adjective «нетерпелив»: «нетерпелив» is the short predicative form of «нетерпеливый» (impatient), agreeing with masculine «я» — "I am impatient." Short forms suit such self-characterizing statements of temporary or characteristic state. «иной раз» = "sometimes."
> Genitive «глазу» of negation: «глазу… нет» — "I have no eye (for it)" — puts «глаз» into the genitive after existential «нет», the genitive of absence. The «-у» is an older/colloquial genitive variant; idiomatically "to have an eye" means a knack or discernment.

Вот у вас другое дело.  
Now with you it is another matter."
> «у вас другое дело» — possession idiom: «у вас другое дело» ("with you it is another matter") uses the «у» + genitive/dative-of-person pattern idiomatically. The zero copula leaves "is" unspoken; «вот» opens with a gentle "now."

— Ах, не верю! Алексей Федорович, как я счастлива!  
"Ah, I do not believe it! Alexei Fyodorovich, how happy I am!"
> Short adjective «счастлива» (fem.): «счастлива» is the short feminine predicative of «счастливый» (happy) — "how happy I am!" Lise's gender shows in the «-а» ending; the exclamatory «как» heightens the feeling.

— Как хорошо, что вы это говорите, Lise.  
"How good it is that you say so, Lise."
> Impersonal «хорошо, что» + present «говорите»: «как хорошо, что…» is an impersonal evaluative predicate ("how good that…") introducing a «что»-clause of fact. «говорите» is the present imperfective — "that you (now) say so."

— Алексей Федорович, вы удивительно хороши, но вы иногда как будто педант… а между тем, смотришь, вовсе не педант.  
"Alexei Fyodorovich, you are wonderfully good, but sometimes you are as though a pedant… and yet, when one looks, you are no pedant at all.
> Zero-copula predicate noun «педант»: «вы… педант» states identity with no copula — "you are a pedant" — the bare nominative predicate normal in the present (contrast the instrumental used with «был/стать»). «как будто» softens it to "as though," then «вовсе не» reverses it.
> Generalizing second-person «смотришь»: «смотришь» (2nd-sg. present of «смотреть») is used impersonally/generically — "when one looks" — not addressed to a particular "you." This generalizing second person is common in reflective Russian speech.

Подите посмотрите у дверей, отворите их тихонько и посмотрите, не подслушивает ли маменька, — прошептала вдруг Lise каким то нервным, торопливым шепотом.  
Go and look at the door, open it softly and see whether mama is not eavesdropping,"—Lise suddenly whispered in a kind of nervous, hurried whisper.
> Chain of polite imperatives: A rapid string of «-те» imperatives — «подите, посмотрите, отворите, посмотрите» — issues Lise's hurried instructions. «подите» is an old/colloquial imperative of «пойти» ("go"); «отворите» (open) is bookish for «откройте».
> Embedded «ли» — whether: «посмотрите, не подслушивает ли маменька» uses «ли» in an embedded yes/no question — "see whether mama is eavesdropping." The negative «не… ли» frames a tentative suspicion.
> «маменька» — affectionate "mama": «маменька» is a tender, slightly old-fashioned diminutive of «мама» (mother), the gentry-household word for "dear mama." Its softness fits Lise's intimate, childlike register even as she conspires against being overheard.
> «тихонько» — softly, ever so quietly: «тихонько» is the diminutive-expressive adverb from «тихо» (quietly), conveying "softly, gently, on the sly." The «-оньк-» suffix adds a coaxing, careful tenderness to the act of opening the door.

Алеша пошел, приотворил двери и доложил, что никто не подслушивает  
Alyosha went, set the door ajar, and reported that no one was eavesdropping.
> Chain of perfectives — narrative sequence: Three perfective past verbs in a row — «пошел… приотворил… доложил» — move the action forward event by event (went, set ajar, reported), the perfective's narrative function. «пошёл» is the prefixed perfective of «пойти».
> «приотворить» — to open slightly: The prefix «при-» on «отворить» (to open) means "a little, partway" — "set the door ajar." The same «при-» of attenuation appears in «приоткрыть»; bookish «отворить» is grander than everyday «открыть.»

— Подойдите сюда, Алексей Федорович, — продолжала Lise, краснея всё более и более, — дайте вашу руку вот так.  
"Come over here, Alexei Fyodorovich,"—Lise went on, blushing more and more,—"give me your hand, like this.
> Imperfective gerund «краснея»: «краснея» is the present деепричастие of «краснеть» (to blush) — "blushing," a continuous attendant circumstance to «продолжала». «всё более и более» ("more and more") underlines the deepening blush.
> Imperative «дайте» + accusative: «дайте» is the polite/plural imperative of perfective «дать» (give); «вашу руку» is the accusative direct object — "give me your hand." «вот так» ("like this") accompanies the gesture.

Слушайте, я вам должна большое признание сделать: вчерашнее письмо я вам не в шутку написала, а серьезно…  
Listen, I must make you a great confession: I did not write you yesterday's letter in jest, but in earnest…"
> «должна» + dative recipient: «должна» is the short feminine of «должный» ("obliged, must"), agreeing with Lise; «вам» is the dative — "I must make YOU a confession." «сделать признание» = "to make a confession," a light-verb collocation.
> Contrastive «не… а» (not X but Y): «не в шутку, а серьёзно» ("not in jest but in earnest") uses the corrective «не… а» pairing, which negates one alternative and substitutes the other — distinct from contrastive «но.» «в шутку» is an adverbial accusative.

И она закрыла рукой свои глаза.  
And she covered her eyes with her hand.
> Instrumental of means + reflexive «свои»: «рукой» is the instrumental of means ("with her hand"), and «свои глаза» uses the reflexive possessive «свой» because the eyes belong to the clause's own subject, Lise — her own eyes, not someone else's.

Видно было, что ей очень стыдно сделать это признание.  
It was plain that she was very much ashamed to make this confession.
> Dative-experiencer «ей стыдно»: «ей стыдно» is the classic impersonal experiencer construction: dative «ей» (to her) plus the predicative «стыдно» ("it is shameful") — "she was ashamed." There is no nominative subject; the infinitive «сделать» names what shames her.
> Impersonal «видно было, что»: «видно было, что…» ("it was plain/evident that") is an impersonal evaluative predicate introducing a «что»-clause; «видно» functions as a predicative word, with neuter past «было» agreeing with no subject.

Вдруг она схватила его руку и стремительно поцеловала ее три раза.  
Suddenly she seized his hand and impetuously kissed it three times.
> Perfectives of sudden completed acts: «схватила» and «поцеловала» are perfective pasts marking abrupt, completed actions — "seized" and "kissed." «его руку» / «её» are accusative objects; «три раза» ("three times") is the accusative of count.
> «стремительно» — impetuously, headlong: «стремительно» (from «стремиться», to rush toward) means "impetuously, with a rush, headlong." It captures the sudden, almost violent ardor of Lise's gesture — a single uncontrollable impulse.

— Ах, Lise, вот и прекрасно, — радостно воскликнул Алеша. — А я ведь был совершенно уверен, что вы написали серьезно.  
"Ah, Lise, that is wonderful,"—Alyosha exclaimed joyfully.—"Why, I was perfectly certain that you had written in earnest."
> Short adjective «уверен» + «что»-clause: «уверен» is the short predicative of «уверенный» ("sure, certain"), agreeing with masculine Alyosha — "I was perfectly certain." It governs a «что»-clause reporting the content of his certainty.
> Particle «ведь» — "why, after all": «ведь» appeals to a shared, obvious truth and gives Alyosha's reply its warm, confiding tone — "Why, I was perfectly certain…" English needs an added "why" or "you know" to carry it.

— Уверен, представьте себе! — отвела вдруг она его руку, не выпуская ее, однако, из своей руки, краснея ужасно и смеясь маленьким, счастливым смешком, — я ему руку поцеловала, а он говорит: «и прекрасно».  
"Certain, just imagine!"—she suddenly drew his hand away, though without releasing it from her own, blushing terribly and laughing with a small, happy little laugh,—"I kissed his hand, and he says: 'that is wonderful.'"
> Negated imperfective gerund «не выпуская»: «не выпуская» is the imperfective present деепричастие of «выпускать» (to let go), negated — "without releasing it." It expresses a simultaneous (non-)action accompanying «отвела»; «из своей руки» uses reflexive «свой» for her own hand.
> Paired gerunds + instrumental cognate: Two imperfective gerunds, «краснея» and «смеясь» (from «смеяться»), stack her simultaneous blushing and laughing. «смеяться смешком» is a cognate-instrumental construction — "to laugh a little laugh" — with the diminutive «смешок».
> «смешок» — a small, soft laugh: «смешок» is the diminutive of «смех» (laughter), "a little laugh, a chuckle." Paired with «маленьким, счастливым», the diminutive doubles the tenderness — a tiny, happy laugh that betrays Lise's shy joy.

— Но упрекала она несправедливо: Алеша тоже был в большом смятении.  
But she reproached him unjustly: Alyosha too was in great agitation.
> Imperfective «упрекала» + verb-first order: «упрекала» is imperfective past ("was reproaching, reproached"); the verb-first order «упрекала она» fronts the action for narrative emphasis, with the subject «она» following — a freedom the case-marking allows.
> «быть в смятении» — prepositional of state: «в большом смятении» ("in great agitation") uses «в» + prepositional to name an inner state. «смятение» is a turmoil or confusion of the soul — Dostoevsky's note that Alyosha, for all his composure, is no less shaken than Lise.

— Я бы желал вам всегда нравиться, Lise, но не знаю, как это сделать, — пробормотал он кое-как и тоже краснея.  
"I should like to please you always, Lise, but I don't know how to manage it," he mumbled somehow, and he too went red.
> Conditional softening with «бы»: «Я бы желал» pairs the past-tense «желал» with the irrealis particle «бы» to make a polite, tentative wish — "I should like" rather than a blunt "I want." The particle leans on the first stressed word here, ahead of the verb, which is its typical mobile behavior.
> Dative experiencer with «нравиться»: «Нравиться» works backwards from English "please": the one who is pleased takes the dative («вам»), and the thing pleasing is the grammatical subject. So «желал вам нравиться» literally frames Alyosha as the thing that should be pleasing to you.
> Gerund «краснея» — "reddening": «Краснея» is an imperfective present gerund («деепричастие») in -я, naming an action simultaneous with the main verb: he mumbled while reddening. It is indeclinable and shares the subject of «пробормотал».

— Алеша, милый, вы холодны и дерзки.  
"Alyosha, my dear, you are cold and impertinent."
> Short-form predicate adjectives: «Холодны» and «дерзки» are short-form adjectives (from «холодный», «дерзкий»), which can only stand as predicates and carry just gender/number, not case. The short form here lends a crisp, judging, slightly bookish weight — "you ARE cold and impertinent" as a verdict.
> «милый» — dear: An affectionate address, "dear / sweet one," softening the reproach that follows. Lise's tenderness and her teasing accusation sit in the same breath.

Видите ли-с.  
"You see, sir."
> The deferential particle «-с»: The «-с» fastened onto «видите ли-с» is a worn-down remnant of the word «сударь» ("sir"). In the nineteenth century this little clitic was hung on words to signal politeness, deference, or — as here — a teasing, mock-formal tone. It has no clean English counterpart, so we let it surface as the tacked-on "sir" in our rendering; recognizing it helps you hear tone in older Russian.
> Interrogative «ли» in a turn of phrase: «Видите ли» ("you see, you understand") uses the enclitic «ли», which normally forms a yes/no question by following the focused word. Here it has frozen into a conversational filler that flags the speaker is about to explain something.

Он изволил меня выбрать в свои супруги и на том успокоился!  
He has deigned to choose me for his wife, and on that he has set his mind at rest!
> «изволить» — "to deign": «Изволил меня выбрать» is a formerly courtly, deferential verb ("was pleased to / deigned to") that Lise turns ironic: she mocks Alyosha's quiet self-assurance by dressing it in old-fashioned court politeness.
> «в» + accusative plural of role: «Выбрать в супруги» uses the construction «в» + accusative to mean choosing someone INTO a role (cf. «выбрать в депутаты»). «Свои» is the reflexive possessive «свой», pointing back to the subject — his own wife.
> Reflexive «-ся» of change of state: «Успокоился» (perfective, from «успокоиться») is a middle-voice «-ся» verb meaning "settled down, set his mind at rest" — the -ся marks the internal change of state, not a literal reflexive action done to oneself.

Он был уже уверен, что я написала серьезно, каково!  
He was already certain that I had written in earnest — imagine that!
> Reported fact with «что»: «Уверен, что я написала…» uses subordinating «что» ("that") to report a plain fact — contrast «чтобы», which would signal a willed or hypothetical outcome. The feminine «написала» tells us the speaker is a woman: past tense agrees in gender.
> «каково!» — "how about that!": An exclamatory neuter form of «каков», thrown in to mean "imagine that! / can you believe it!" It invites the listener to share the speaker's indignation.

Но ведь это дерзость — вот что!  
But that is sheer insolence — that's what it is!
> Appeal-particle «ведь»: «Ведь» appeals to shared knowledge — "after all, you must agree." It colors the line with Lise's conviction that the insolence is self-evident, an attitude English can only convey by stress or by "why," "after all."
> «вот что!» — emphatic comment: «Вот что!» ("that's what it is!") closes the sentence by re-pointing at the just-named noun «дерзость». This right-dislocation for emphasis is classic Russian topic–comment rhythm, putting the punchline last.

— Да разве это худо, что я был уверен? — засмеялся вдруг Алеша.  
"And is it really so bad that I was certain?" Alyosha laughed suddenly.
> «разве» — incredulous question: «Разве» opens a question that expects the answer "no" and signals surprise or mild protest: "is it really so bad?" The opening «да» is not "yes" but a soft conversational launch, "and / well."
> «худо» — bad (bookish): «Худо» is an older, slightly elevated word for "bad / ill," a touch more literary than the everyday «плохо». It survives mostly in set phrases and 19th-century prose.

— Ах, Алеша, напротив, ужасно как хорошо, — нежно и со счастьем посмотрела на него Lise.  
"Ah, Alyosha, on the contrary — it is dreadfully good," Lise looked at him tenderly, full of happiness.
> Verb-before-subject inversion: The subject «Lise» follows its verb «посмотрела», with the adverbials fronted — an inversion typical of Russian narrative tags after direct speech. Cases keep roles clear, so word order is free to put the emotional manner first.
> «с» + instrumental of accompaniment: «Со счастьем» is the preposition «с» governing the instrumental — "with happiness," i.e. happily. The form «со» (not «с») appears before the consonant cluster «сч-» for ease of pronunciation.
> «ужасно» as an intensifier: Literally "awfully," «ужасно» here just amplifies — "dreadfully / terribly good." This emotional, slightly girlish over-statement recurs in Lise's speech ("ужасно счастлива," "ужасно люблю").

Алеша стоял, всё еще держа свою руку в ее руке.  
Alyosha stood there, still holding his hand in hers.
> Gerund «держа» — ongoing accompaniment: «Держа» is an imperfective present gerund ("holding"), painting a state that continues alongside «стоял». «Всё еще» ("still") underlines its ongoing nature, and «свою» reflexively marks the hand as his own.
> «в» + prepositional for location: «В ее руке» ("in her hand") uses «в» with the prepositional case to express location, contrasting with «в» + accusative for motion into. The third-person possessive «её» is frozen and never declines.

Вдруг он нагнулся и поцеловал ее в самые губки.  
Suddenly he stooped down and kissed her right on the lips.
> Chained perfectives moving the action: Two perfective past verbs, «нагнулся» and «поцеловал», narrate single completed events in sequence — stooped, then kissed. Perfectives like these drive the plot forward point by point, against any imperfective background.
> «губки» — diminutive of «губы»: «Губки» is a tender diminutive of «губы» ("lips"), and «в самые губки» means "right on the very lips." «Самые» heightens the precision — exactly there — while the diminutive adds intimacy to the moment.

— Это что еще? Что с вами? — вскрикнула Lise.  
"What's this now? What's come over you?" cried Lise.
> «что с» + instrumental — "what's wrong": «Что с вами?» (literally "what is with you?") is the idiomatic way to ask "what's come over you? / what's the matter?" using «с» + instrumental «вами». No verb is needed — Russian leaves the copula unspoken in the present.
> Emphatic «еще» in indignation: «Это что еще?» is an indignant idiom, "what's this now? / what next?" — the particle «еще» here adds an exasperated "on top of everything" flavor rather than its usual "still / yet."

Алеша совсем потерялся.  
Alyosha was utterly thrown.
> «-ся» middle: «потеряться»: «Потерялся» (perfective) with «-ся» means not "lost something" but "got lost / became flustered" — the reflexive marks a change of inner state. With «совсем» it reads "was utterly thrown / lost his head."

— Ну, простите, если не так… Я, может быть, ужасно глупо… Вы сказали, что я холоден, я взял и поцеловал.. Только я вижу, что вышло глупо…  
"Well, forgive me, if it wasn't right... Perhaps I was being dreadfully stupid... You said I was cold, so I went and kissed you... Only I can see now that it came out stupid..."
> Elliptical conditional «если не так»: «Простите, если не так» drops the verb entirely — "forgive me if [it was] not right." Russian freely omits the present-tense copula, so «не так» ("not so / not as it should be") stands alone as the condition.
> «взял и» + verb — "up and did it": «Взял и поцеловал» is a colloquial construction: «взять» ("to take") plus «и» plus a second verb means "went and did it," conveying an impulsive, unpremeditated act. Both verbs share tense and aspect.
> Impersonal «вышло» — "it came out": «Вышло глупо» uses «выйти» impersonally with a neuter past form and an adverb: "it turned out stupidly / came out foolish." There is no nominative subject — the situation itself "came out" a certain way.

Lise засмеялась и закрыла лицо руками.  
Lise laughed and hid her face in her hands.
> Instrumental of means «руками»: «Закрыла лицо руками» — "covered her face with her hands" — puts the instrument «руками» in the instrumental case, with no preposition needed. The instrumental alone answers "by what means?"

— И в этом платье! — вырвалось у ней между смехом, но вдруг она перестала смеяться и стала вся серьезная, почти строгая.  
"And in that habit, too!" burst from her amid her laughter; but all at once she stopped laughing and grew wholly serious, almost stern.
> Impersonal «вырвалось у» — "it burst from": «Вырвалось у ней» is an impersonal reflexive: the exclamation is the subject and "burst out from" her («у» + genitive «ней»), as if involuntary. The form «ней» for «неё» is a colloquial/older variant after the preposition.
> «стать» + predicate adjective: «Стала… серьезная» uses «стать» ("to become") with the adjective. Note Dostoevsky keeps the nominative «серьезная» (a colloquial, vivid choice) where formal grammar might expect the instrumental «серьёзной» after «стать».

— Ну, Алеша, мы еще подождем с поцелуями, потому что мы этого еще оба не умеем, а ждать нам еще очень долго, — заключила она вдруг.  
"Well, Alyosha, we shall hold off on kisses a while longer, since neither of us is any good at it yet, and we still have a very long time to wait," she concluded suddenly.
> «подождать с» + instrumental: «Подождём с поцелуями» — "we'll wait a while with the kisses," i.e. hold off on them. The verb «ждать/подождать с» takes «с» + instrumental to mean delaying or putting off the named thing.
> Genitive after «потому что мы этого не умеем»: «Этого не умеем» shows the genitive of negation: «умеем» negated pulls its object «это» into the genitive «этого». «Оба» ("both") underlines the shared inexperience.
> Dative-subject necessity «ждать нам»: «Ждать нам долго» frames the obligation impersonally: the dative «нам» is the one who must wait, with the bare infinitive «ждать» carrying the sense "we have a long wait ahead." No nominative subject appears.

— Скажите лучше, за что вы берете меня, такую дуру, больную дурочку, вы, такой умный, такой мыслящий, такой замечающий?  
"Tell me, rather, why you are taking me — such a fool, such a sickly little ninny — you, who are so clever, so thoughtful, so observant?"
> «за что» — "for what / why": «За что» ("on what grounds, for what reason") asks the motive, distinct from «почему» (cause) and «зачем» (purpose). Here it means "why on earth are you taking me?" — «за» + accusative «что».
> «дура» / «дурочка» — fool, with diminutive: Lise heaps self-deprecation: «дуру» ("fool," harsh) softening into the diminutive «дурочка» ("silly little thing"), paired with «больную» ("sick"). The diminutive turns the insult tender and pitying — she belittles and pities herself at once.
> Present active participles as adjectives: «Мыслящий» ("thinking") and «замечающий» ("noticing, observant") are present active participles in -щий used attributively, like adjectives, after «такой» ("so"). They condense "one who thinks / who notices" into single bookish modifiers — a literary flourish.

Ах, Алеша, я ужасно счастлива, потому что я вас совсем не стою!  
Ah, Alyosha, I am dreadfully happy, because I am not worthy of you at all!
> «стоить» + genitive of worth: «Стоить» in the sense "to be worthy of" governs the genitive: «вас не стою» = "I am not worthy of you." The pronoun «вас» is genitive here (= accusative form), and «совсем не» intensifies the negation to "not at all."
> Causal «потому что»: «Потому что» ("because") opens a subordinate clause of cause, set off by a comma. It is the everyday workhorse causal conjunction, as opposed to the bookish «ибо».

— Стоите, Lise.  
"You are worthy, Lise."
> Single-word rejoinder «Стоите»: Alyosha answers her «не стою» with one inflected verb, «Стоите» ("you ARE worthy") — the 2nd-person plural ending alone carries subject and contradiction, so no pronoun is needed. A terse, emphatic correction.

Я на днях выйду из монастыря совсем.  
In a few days I shall leave the monastery for good.
> Prefixed motion verb «выйти»: «Выйду» is the perfective simple future of «выйти» ("to go out, leave"), a prefixed motion verb: the prefix «вы-» ("out") fixes direction and makes the pair an ordinary aspect pair. «Из монастыря» — «из» + genitive — marks motion out of.

Выйдя в свет, надо жениться, это-то я знаю.  
Going out into the world, one must marry — that much I know.
> Past gerund «выйдя» — "having gone out": «Выйдя» is a perfective past gerund ("having gone out"), naming the completed action that precedes the main clause. It sets the condition — once one is out in the world — for the generalizing «надо жениться».
> Impersonal necessity «надо» + infinitive: «Надо жениться» ("one must marry") is a subjectless necessity construction: the invariable «надо» plus a bare infinitive, with any experiencer in the dative (here left general, "one"). This is a hallmark Russian impersonal pattern.
> Emphatic clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» on «это-то» emphasizes a known point — "THAT much, at least, I do know." This is the topic-emphasizing «-то», distinct from the indefinite «-то» of «кто-то».
> «выйти в свет» — to enter the world / society: «Свет» here means "the world" or polite "society" as opposed to monastic seclusion. «Выйти в свет» carries the double sense of leaving the cloister and entering secular, social life.

Так и он мне велел.  
He, too, commanded me so.
> Dative object of «велеть»: «Велеть» ("to command, bid") governs the dative of the person commanded — «мне велел» = "bade me." «Так» recalls the preceding thought ("to marry"), and «и» here means "too / also": he too commanded it.

Кого ж я лучше вас возьму… и кто меня, кроме вас, возьмет?  
And whom could I take who is better than you... and who, besides you, would take me?
> Animate accusative «кого» + particle «ж»: «Кого» is the accusative/genitive of «кто» — animate, so it borrows the genitive form. The clitic «ж» (= «же») adds insistence: "and just whom would I take?" «Лучше вас» means "better than you," with comparison expressed by the bare genitive «вас».
> «кроме» + genitive: «Кроме вас» ("besides you") uses the preposition «кроме» governing the genitive. The rhetorical question — "and who, besides you, would take me?" — answers itself: no one.

Я уж это обдумывал.  
I have already thought it all through.
> Imperfective «обдумывал» — process of thinking-over: «Обдумывал» is imperfective past: not a single completed thought but the ongoing process of turning it over. The particle «уж» (a clipped «уже», "already") stresses that the deliberation is behind him.

Во-первых, вы меня с детства знаете, а во-вторых, в вас очень много способностей, каких во мне совсем нет.  
First, you have known me since childhood, and second, there is a great deal in you of abilities I have none of at all.
> «с» + genitive of time — "since childhood": «С детства» — «с» + genitive «детства» — marks the starting point in time, "since/from childhood." The same preposition «с» governs the instrumental for accompaniment but the genitive for a source or starting point.
> Genitive of negation with «нет»: «Каких во мне нет» — the relative «каких» stands in the genitive plural because «нет» (negated existence) demands the genitive of what is absent: "abilities of which there are none in me." «Каких» also agrees with its antecedent «способностей».

У вас душа веселее, чем у меня; вы, главное, невиннее меня, а уж я до многого, до многого прикоснулся…  
Your soul is gayer than mine; above all, you are more innocent than I am, while I have already brushed up against a great deal, a great deal...
> Comparatives in -ее, with and without «чем»: «Веселее» and «невиннее» are predicative comparatives in -ее ("gayer," "more innocent"). Russian offers two comparison frames, both here: «веселее, чем у меня» ("than in me," with «чем») and the terser «невиннее меня» (the standard in the bare genitive).
> «прикоснуться до/к» + repetition: «До многого… прикоснулся» — "I have touched/brushed against much." The repetition «до многого, до многого» is an emotive doubling for emphasis, and «прикоснулся» is a perfective «-ся» verb of contact. The phrase darkly hints at the Karamazov sensuality he shares.

Ах, вы не знаете, ведь и я Карамазов!  
Ah, you don't know it, but I too am a Karamazov!
> «ведь» + «и» — "after all, I too": «Ведь» appeals to a truth Lise should grasp, and «и я» means "I too / even I." The present copula is unspoken: «я Карамазов» = "I [am] a Karamazov," predicate noun in the bare nominative.

Что в том, что вы смеетесь и шутите, и надо мной тоже; напротив, смейтесь, я так этому рад…  
What does it matter that you laugh and joke, and at my expense too? On the contrary, laugh — I am so glad of it...
> «что в том, что…» — "what does it matter that…": «Что в том, что…» is an idiom, "what is there in that / what does it matter that…" The correlative «в том» ("in that," prepositional) is then unpacked by the «что»-clause that follows.
> Imperative «смейтесь»: «Смейтесь» is the plural/polite imperative of the «-ся» verb «смеяться» ("to laugh"). The reflexive ending «-сь» follows the imperative «-те», and the form invites rather than commands: "go ahead, laugh."
> Dative complement of «рад»: «Рад» ("glad") is a short-form predicate adjective that takes its object in the dative: «этому рад» = "glad of this." «Так» intensifies — "so glad."

Но вы смеетесь как маленькая девочка, а про себя думаете как мученица…  
But you laugh like a little girl, while inwardly you think like a martyr...
> Contrastive «а» of two simultaneous truths: The hinge «а» sets the two halves against each other — laughing outwardly, brooding inwardly — a mild contrast, not opposition. «Про себя» uses the reflexive «себя» ("to oneself, inwardly") after «про» + accusative.

— Как мученица? Как это?  
"Like a martyr? How so?"
> Elliptical «Как это?»: «Как это?» ("how so? / what do you mean?") is a clipped, verbless question — Russian leaves out everything but the essential «как» + «это», relying on context for the rest.

— Да, Lise, вот давеча ваш вопрос: нет ли в нас презрения к тому несчастному, что мы так душу его анатомируем, — этот вопрос мученический… видите, я никак не умею это выразить, но у кого такие вопросы являются, тот сам способен страдать.  
"Yes, Lise, take that question of yours just now: whether there isn't some contempt in us toward that wretched man, that we dissect his soul like this — that question is a martyr's question... You see, I can't put it into words at all, but anyone in whom such questions arise is himself capable of suffering."
> «нет ли» + genitive — "isn't there…?": Lise's recalled question fuses negated existence «нет» with the interrogative «ли»: "isn't there contempt in us?" Because «нет» negates existence, the thing in question stands in the genitive — «презрения», not nominative «презрение».
> Correlative «у кого… тот…»: This is a bookish correlative: the relative «кто» (here «у кого», "in whom") is answered by the demonstrative «тот» ("that one"). "In whom such questions arise — that person is himself capable of suffering." «Сам» intensifies («himself»).
> «анатомировать» — to dissect / anatomize: A learned loanword, "to dissect (anatomically)." Applied to «душу» ("soul"), it's a striking metaphor — they probe the wretched man's soul as a coroner probes a body. The clinical word against "soul" is deliberately jarring.
> «давеча» — "a little while ago": «Давеча» is a colloquial, somewhat dated adverb meaning "just now, a short while back, earlier today." It recurs across this scene and marks the warm, slightly old-fashioned register of their talk.

Сидя в креслах, вы уж и теперь должны были много передумать…  
Sitting there in your chair, you must already have had much to turn over in your mind...
> Gerund «сидя» — "while sitting": «Сидя» is an imperfective present gerund ("sitting / while you sit"), giving the circumstance attending the main clause. «В креслах» locates her, «в» + prepositional.
> «должны были» + perfective infinitive: «Должны были передумать» — "you must have thought over much." «Должны» (short adjective "obliged") plus past «были» plus the perfective «передумать» (whose prefix «пере-» means "through, all of it") expresses an inferred completed action.

— Алеша, дайте мне вашу руку, что вы ее отнимаете, — промолвила Lise ослабленным от счастья, упавшим каким-то голоском.  
"Alyosha, give me your hand — why do you pull it away?" said Lise in a little voice gone faint and falling with happiness.
> Imperative «дайте» + dative recipient: «Дайте» is the polite/plural imperative of «дать» ("to give"), with the recipient in the dative («мне») and the thing given in the accusative («вашу руку»). A textbook give-construction.
> Reproachful «что» — "why": Here «что» is not "that" but a reproachful "why / what for" — "why are you pulling it away?" The imperfective «отнимаете» shows the action in progress, his ongoing tug.
> «голосок» — diminutive of «голос»: «Голоском» (instrumental of «голосок») is the tender diminutive of «голос» ("voice") — "in a little voice." Paired with «ослабленным» and «упавшим», it paints her voice as small, faint, dissolving in happiness.

— Послушайте, Алеша, во что вы оденетесь, как выйдете из монастыря, в какой костюм?  
"Listen, Alyosha, what will you wear when you leave the monastery — what sort of suit?"
> «одеться во» + accusative: «Оденетесь» is the reflexive «одеться» ("to dress oneself"), perfective future. "What will you dress yourself in?" takes «во что» — «в» + accusative — for the clothing put on. «Во» (not «в») precedes the consonant cluster «чт-».

Не смейтесь, не сердитесь, это очень, очень для меня важно.  
Don't laugh, don't be cross — this matters very, very much to me.
> Negated imperatives: «Не смейтесь, не сердитесь» — negative commands formed with «не» before the imperative. Imperfective imperatives like these are the norm for prohibitions and requests: "don't laugh, don't be cross."
> Short-form «важно» + dative-like «для меня»: «Важно» is a short neuter predicate adjective ("[it] is important"), with «для меня» ("for me," «для» + genitive) naming whom it matters to. The doubled «очень, очень» is emotive intensification.

— Про костюм, Lise, я еще не думал, но в какой хотите, в такой и оденусь.  
"As for a suit, Lise, I haven't thought about it yet, but whatever you like, that's what I'll wear."
> Correlative «в какой… в такой…»: An elegant correlative: the interrogative-relative «какой» ("which kind") is answered by «такой» ("that kind"). "Whatever sort you like, that's the sort I'll dress in." «И» here means "exactly / just," sealing the matching.
> Negated imperfective «не думал»: «Не думал» (imperfective past, negated) reports the simple non-occurrence of an activity — "I haven't (been) thinking about it." «Еще» ("yet") signals it may still come.

— Я хочу, чтоб у вас был темно-синий бархатный пиджак, белый пикейный жилет и пуховая серая мягкая шляпа … Скажите, вы так и поверили давеча, что я вас не люблю, когда я от письма вчерашнего отреклась?  
"I want you to have a dark-blue velvet jacket, a white piqué waistcoat, and a soft grey felt hat... Tell me, did you really believe just now that I don't love you, when I disavowed yesterday's letter?"
> «чтоб(ы)» + past form for a wished outcome: «Хочу, чтоб… был» uses «чтоб» (clipped «чтобы») with the past form «был» to express a willed, not-yet-real outcome — the irrealis demanded after verbs of wishing. The «у вас был… пиджак» frames possession as "there be a jacket with you."
> A dandy's wardrobe: Lise dresses Alyosha in fashionable 1860s–70s civilian wear: a velvet «пиджак» (jacket), a white «пикейный жилет» (piqué waistcoat — piqué is a ribbed cotton), and a soft felt «шляпа». The loanwords mark this as worldly, secular finery — the opposite of his cassock.
> «отречься от» + genitive: «Отречься от письма» — "to renounce / disavow the letter" — uses the reflexive «отречься» governing «от» + genitive «письма». The word «отречься» carries a weighty, almost solemn ring (it is the verb for renouncing a faith or a throne).

— Нет, не поверил.  
"No, I didn't believe it."
> Negated perfective «не поверил»: «Поверил» is perfective ("believed, came to believe"); negated, «не поверил» denies that the single act of believing ever took place — "I didn't [come to] believe it." The terse two-word reply is fully carried by the gendered past form.

— О, несносный человек, неисправимый!  
"Oh, you insufferable man, you incorrigible one!"
> «несносный» / «неисправимый»: Two negated adjectives as affectionate scolding: «несносный» ("unbearable, insufferable," from «сносить» "to endure") and «неисправимый» ("incorrigible," lit. "un-correctable"). Both lead with the privative «не-», and here they are mock-exasperated endearments.

— Видите, я знал, что вы меня… кажется, любите, но я сделал вид, что вам верю, что вы не любите, чтобы вам было… удобнее…  
"You see, I knew that you... seemed to love me, but I pretended to take your word for it that you didn't, so that it would be... easier for you..."
> «сделать вид, что» — to pretend: «Сделать вид, что…» is the set idiom "to make as if / pretend that." «Верю» is present-tense («I believe you»), reported inside the «что»-clause exactly as it was felt — Russian keeps the original tense in such reports.
> Purpose «чтобы» + dative «вам было»: «Чтобы вам было удобнее» — "so that it would be easier for you" — combines purpose «чтобы» (with past «было») and an impersonal dative-experiencer construction: «вам было удобнее» has no nominative subject, only the dative «вам» and the comparative.

— Еще того хуже! И хуже и лучше всего.  
"Worse still! And worse and best of all."
> Genitive of comparison «того хуже»: «Того хуже» — "worse than that" — uses the comparative «хуже» with the standard of comparison in the bare genitive «того» (from «то»). «Еще» ("even, still") pushes it further: "even worse than that."
> Superlative «лучше всего»: «Лучше всего» ("best of all") forms a superlative from the comparative «лучше» plus «всего» (genitive, "than everything"). «Лучше» and «хуже» are suppletive comparatives — from «хороший» and «плохой» — that share no root with their positive forms.

Алеша, я вас ужасно люблю.  
Alyosha, I love you dreadfully.
> «вас» as accusative object: «Вас» is the accusative (= genitive form) of «вы», the direct object of «люблю». Word order puts object before verb — «я вас люблю» — which is the unmarked, natural order for this fixed declaration.

Я давеча, как вам прийти, загадала; спрошу у него вчерашнее письмо, и если он мне спокойно вынет и отдаст его (как и ожидать от него всегда можно), то значит, что он совсем меня не любит, ничего не чувствует, а просто глупый и недостойный мальчик, а я погибла.  
Just now, as you were coming, I made a wager with myself: I'll ask him for yesterday's letter, and if he calmly takes it out and hands it back to me (as one can always expect of him), then it means he doesn't love me at all, feels nothing, and is simply a stupid, unworthy boy — and I am lost.
> Dative + infinitive «как вам прийти»: «Как вам прийти» here means "as you were [about] to come" — a dative («вам») plus infinitive («прийти», perfective of the prefixed motion verb «приходить/прийти») expressing imminent or impending action, an older colloquial turn.
> Real conditional «если» + perfective future: «Если… вынет и отдаст» is a real (open) condition: «если» + two perfective present-form verbs with future meaning ("if he takes out and hands back"). The «то значит» that follows draws the consequence.
> «загадать» — to make a wish / wager with oneself: «Загадать» is the folk-flavored verb for setting oneself an omen or making a silent wish — "I made a wager / told my fortune." Lise treats Alyosha's reaction as a private divination of whether he loves her.
> «погибла» — perfective of doom: «Я погибла» (perfective past, feminine) — "I am lost / done for / undone." The perfective frames the ruin as an accomplished fact, and the melodramatic verb «погибнуть» ("to perish") is pure Lise.

Но вы оставили письмо в келье, и это меня ободрило: не правда ли, вы потому оставили в келье, что предчувствовали, что я буду требовать назад письмо, так чтобы не отдавать его?  
But you left the letter in your cell, and that heartened me: isn't it true that you left it in the cell because you foresaw that I would demand the letter back, and so you arranged not to give it up?
> Tag question «не правда ли»: «Не правда ли?» ("isn't it true?") is the standard tag question, seeking agreement — built from negation «не» plus «правда» plus interrogative «ли». English needs "isn't it?" or "don't you?"
> Compound future «буду требовать»: «Буду требовать» is the imperfective compound future: «буду» plus the imperfective infinitive «требовать» ("to demand"), naming an ongoing/repeated future act — "I would [keep on] demanding." It contrasts with the perfective simple future seen elsewhere.
> Purpose «(так) чтобы» + infinitive: «Так чтобы не отдавать» uses «чтобы» with a bare infinitive (same subject) to state purpose: "so as not to give it up." The imperfective «отдавать» under negation reads as "so as to keep from handing it over."

Так ли? Ведь так?  
Is that so? It's so, isn't it?
> «ли» question vs «ведь» appeal: Two ways to seek confirmation in three words: «Так ли?» is a neutral yes/no question with «ли» ("is it so?"), while «Ведь так?» appeals to shared certainty with «ведь» ("it's so, isn't it?"). The pair shows the fine difference between asking and expecting agreement.

— Ох, Lise, совсем не так, ведь письмо-то со мной и теперь и давеча было тоже, вот в этом кармане, вот оно.  
"Oh, Lise, not at all; the letter is with me even now, and it was with me just then too — here, in this pocket, here it is."
> Topic clitic «-то» + «со мной»: «Письмо-то» uses the emphasizing clitic «-то» to single out the letter as the known topic — "the letter, in fact…" «Со мной» ("with me") is «с» + instrumental of «я»; «со» appears before the cluster.
> Deictic «вот»: «Вот» ("here / there [is]") points physically at something present: "here, in this pocket — here it is." Repeated «вот» dramatizes the gesture of producing the letter.

Алеша вынул, смеясь, письмо и показал ей издали.  
Laughing, Alyosha drew out the letter and showed it to her from a distance.
> Gerund «смеясь» interrupting the clause: «Смеясь» (imperfective present gerund, "laughing") is dropped between verb and object — "drew out, laughing, the letter" — describing the manner of the main action. Free word order lets the gerund sit mid-sentence.

— Только я вам не отдам его, смотрите из рук.  
"Only I shan't give it to you — look at it from a distance."
> Perfective future «не отдам» + dative: «Не отдам» is the perfective simple future of «отдать» ("to give back") — "I shan't give it." The recipient is dative «вам», the thing accusative «его». Perfective negation here denies the completed act will happen.
> Imperative «смотрите» + «из» + genitive: «Смотрите» is the plural/polite imperative ("look"). «Из рук» — «из» + genitive plural «рук» — literally "from [my] hands," i.e. look at it while it stays in my hands, from a distance.

— Как? Так вы давеча солгали, вы монах и солгали?  
"What? So you lied just now — you, a monk, and you lied?"
> «солгать» — to tell a lie (bookish): «Солгать» (perfective of «лгать») is the more emphatic, morally weighted verb for lying, stronger than everyday «соврать». Lise's shock — «вы монах и солгали» — hangs on this gravity: a monk, of all people, told an outright lie.

— Пожалуй, солгал, — смеялся и Алеша, — чтобы вам не отдавать письма, солгал.  
"I lied, I suppose," Alyosha laughed too, "I lied so as not to give you the letter."
> «пожалуй» — "I suppose / very well": «Пожалуй» is a concessive particle expressing reluctant or easygoing agreement: "I suppose so, all right, maybe." Alyosha cheerfully half-concedes the charge of lying without taking it too seriously.
> Purpose «чтобы» framing the lie: «Чтобы вам не отдавать письма» states the aim — "in order not to give you the letter" — with «чтобы» + infinitive (same subject). Under negation the object «письма» appears in the genitive of negation rather than accusative.

Оно очень мне дорого, — прибавил он вдруг с сильным чувством и опять покраснев, — это уж навеки, и я его никому никогда не отдам!  
"It is very dear to me," he added all at once, with strong feeling and blushing again, "and that is forever now, and I shall never give it to anyone, ever!"
> Short adjective «дорого» + dative: «Дорого» is a short neuter predicate adjective ("[is] dear"), agreeing with neuter «оно» (the letter, «письмо»). The one to whom it is dear stands in the dative — «мне дорого», "dear to me."
> Negative concord: «никому никогда не»: Three negatives, one meaning: «никому» ("to no one"), «никогда» ("never"), and the obligatory «не» on the verb all stack up — Russian requires the negated verb even with «ни»-words. "I'll never give it to anyone."
> Past gerund «покраснев» — "having reddened": «Покраснев» is a perfective past gerund of «покраснеть» ("to blush"), naming the completed action accompanying «прибавил». «Опять» ("again") ties it back to his earlier blush — Alyosha colors at his own strong feeling.

Lise смотрела на него в восхищении.  
Lise gazed at him in rapture.
> «в» + prepositional of state: «В восхищении» ("in rapture / delight") uses «в» + prepositional to express an emotional state someone is in, like «в восторге», «в отчаянии». «Восхищение» is a bookish noun in -ение for the abstract feeling.

— Алеша, — залепетала она опять, — посмотрите у дверей, не подслушивает ли мамаша?  
"Alyosha," she prattled on again, "go look at the door — isn't Mama eavesdropping?"
> Embedded «ли» — "whether…": «Посмотрите… не подслушивает ли мамаша» embeds an indirect question with «ли»: "see whether Mama is eavesdropping." The negative «не» before the verb adds an apprehensive shade — "isn't she listening?"
> «мамаша» — affectionate-familiar "mama": «Мамаша» is a warm, slightly old-fashioned and folksy form of address/reference for one's mother, more colored than neutral «мать». In Lise's mouth it has a cozy, conspiratorial tone.
> «залепетать» — to begin to prattle: «Залепетать» combines the prefix «за-» (inceptive, "to begin") with «лепетать» ("to babble, prattle, lisp"). It paints Lise breaking into a rush of childlike, half-whispered chatter.

— Хорошо, Lise, я посмотрю, только не лучше ли не смотреть, а?  
"Very well, Lise, I'll look — only wouldn't it be better not to look, eh?"
> «не лучше ли» — "wouldn't it be better": «Не лучше ли не смотреть?» stacks comparative «лучше» with interrogative «ли» and two negations to make a gentle suggestion: "wouldn't it be better not to look?" The «не…ли» frame softens it into a polite proposal.
> Coaxing tag «а?»: The trailing «а?» is a conversational tag inviting agreement — "eh? / right?" It gently presses Lise to reconsider, a soft, warm close to his sentence.

Зачем подозревать в такой низости вашу мать?  
Why suspect your mother of such a base thing?
> «подозревать в» + prepositional: «Подозревать кого-то в чём-то» — "to suspect someone OF something" — takes the accusative of the person («вашу мать») and «в» + prepositional of the offense («в низости»). «Такой» agrees with «низости» in the prepositional.
> «низость» — baseness, a vile act: «Низость» (from «низкий», "low") means moral lowness — "baseness, a base/contemptible act." The word becomes the hinge of the exchange that follows, as Lise contests whether eavesdropping counts as one.

— Как низости? В какой низости?  
"What do you mean, base? What baseness?"
> Echoing the case forms: Lise indignantly repeats Alyosha's words in their cases: «низости» (genitive, picking up «в такой низости») and then «в какой низости?» (prepositional). The clipped, verbless echo shows how Russian can argue purely by repeating an inflected noun.

Это то, что она подслушивает за дочерью, так это ее право, а не низость, — вспыхнула Lise.  
"As for her eavesdropping on her daughter, that is her right, not baseness," Lise flared up.
> Contrastive «а не» — "and not": «Это ее право, а не низость» opposes two predicate nominatives with «а не» ("and not / but not"): it is her right, not a base act. The zero copula leaves both nouns in the nominative; «её» is the invariable possessive.
> «за» + instrumental — keeping watch: «Подслушивать за дочерью» / «подслушивать за нею» uses «за» + instrumental in the sense of watching or spying on someone (cf. «следить за»). The instrumental «дочерью» is the irregular form of «дочь».
> «вспыхнуть» — to flare up: «Вспыхнула» (perfective) literally means "flared / blazed up," used of a sudden flush of emotion — here Lise flushing with quick temper. The inceptive «вс-» captures the abrupt flash of feeling.

— Будьте уверены, Алексей Федорович, что когда я сама буду матерью и у меня будет такая же дочь, как я, то я непременно буду за нею подслушивать.  
"You may be sure, Alexei Fyodorovich, that when I am a mother myself and have a daughter just like me, I shall most certainly eavesdrop on her."
> Imperative «будьте» + short adjective: «Будьте уверены» ("rest assured / you may be sure") is the imperative of «быть» plus the short-form adjective «уверены» ("sure"). It is a set polite formula introducing an emphatic assertion.
> Predicate instrumental «буду матерью»: «Буду матерью» — "I will be a mother" — puts the predicate noun in the instrumental after future «буду», as Russian does with «быть» outside the present. «Сама» ("myself") intensifies the subject.
> Compound future «буду подслушивать»: «Буду подслушивать» is the imperfective compound future ("I shall [keep] eavesdropping"), built on «буду» + imperfective infinitive, fitting a habitual future intention. «Непременно» ("without fail") underlines her resolve.

— Неужели, Lise? Это нехорошо.  
"Really, Lise? That's not good."
> «неужели» — incredulous "really?": «Неужели» is the particle of astonished disbelief — "surely not? / can it really be?" Stronger and more emotional than «разве», it registers Alyosha's mild shock at her declaration.

— Ах, боже мой, какая тут низость?  
"Ah, good heavens, what baseness is there in it?"
> Vocative «боже» — "my God": «Боже» is the old Church-Slavonic vocative of «Бог» ("God"), surviving in Russian only in such exclamations of address: «боже мой!» = "my God! / good heavens!" It is set apart from the clause's grammar as direct address to the deity.
> Rhetorical «какая… низость»: «Какая тут низость?» — "what baseness is there here?" — uses interrogative «какая» (agreeing feminine with «низость») in a rhetorical question expecting the answer "none." «Тут» ("here, in this") is the colloquial twin of «здесь».

Если б обыкновенный светский разговор какой-нибудь и я бы подслушивала, то это низость, а тут родная дочь заперлась с молодым человеком… Слушайте, Алеша, знайте, я за вами тоже буду подсматривать, только что мы обвенчаемся, и знайте еще, что я все письма ваши буду распечатывать и всё читать… Это уж вы будьте предуведомлены…  
If I were eavesdropping on some ordinary bit of polite conversation, that would be base, but here a daughter of the house has shut herself up with a young man... Listen, Alyosha, know this: I shall spy on you too, the moment we are married, and know besides that I shall open all your letters and read everything... So consider yourself forewarned...
> Conditional «бы» doubled: The irrealis particle appears twice — clipped «б» after «если» and full «бы» on the verb — a colloquial Russian habit of restating «бы» for emphasis. With the past-form «подслушивала» it builds a counterfactual: 'if I were to eavesdrop.'
> Compound imperfective future: Lise piles up «буду» + imperfective infinitives («подсматривать», «распечатывать», «читать») — the analytic future that names ongoing, habitual action. The repetition paints spying as a settled future routine, not a single act.
> Imperative «знайте»: The polite/plural imperative of «знать», formed with -й after the vowel stem plus -те. Lise uses it almost as a verbal exclamation point — 'know this!' — three times in the passage, a hallmark of her excitable speech.
> «обвенчаться» — to be wed in church: Not a neutral 'marry' but specifically to be joined in the Orthodox wedding rite (the «венец», the crown held over the couple). The perfective with reflexive -ся stresses the completed sacrament; in Lise's mouth the grand word over a half-game engagement is touchingly premature.
> «будьте предуведомлены» — be forewarned: A bookish, chancery-flavoured short passive participle ('pre-notified'), the kind of officialese a child mimics from grown-up letters. Lise drops it for mock-solemn effect, capping her playful threat with stiff legalese.

— Да, конечно, если так… — бормотал Алеша, — только это нехорошо…  
"Yes, of course, if that's how it is..." muttered Alyosha, "only it isn't good..."
> Imperfective speech-tag «бормотал»: Dostoevsky tags Alyosha's lines with imperfective past verbs of speaking («бормотал» — was muttering) rather than the perfective «пробормотал». The imperfective renders the manner and duration of the muttering as ongoing background to Lise's bright assault.
> «нехорошо» — it isn't good/right: An impersonal evaluative adverb negated with «не-». Alyosha's quiet «это нехорошо» carries moral, not merely aesthetic, weight: the eavesdropping is *wrong*, gently said.

— Ах, какое презрение! Алеша, милый, не будем ссориться с самого первого раза, — я вам лучше всю правду скажут это, конечно, очень дурно подслушивать, и, уж конечно, я не права, а вы правы, но только я все-таки буду подслушивать.  
"Ah, such scorn! Alyosha, my dear, let us not quarrel from the very first day — I'd better tell you the whole truth: of course it is very wrong to eavesdrop, and of course I am in the wrong and you are in the right, but all the same I shall eavesdrop."
> Hortative «не будем» + imperfective: «не будем ссориться» ('let us not quarrel') uses the imperfective-future of «быть» as a first-person-plural exhortation. The imperfective infinitive «ссориться» (reflexive -ся, a reciprocal 'quarrel with each other') is normal in such negated 'let's not' appeals.
> Short adjective «прав» and contrastive «а»: «права / правы» are short-form predicate adjectives ('am in the wrong / are in the right') — the short form is normal in this 'to be right' idiom. The pivot «а» is the soft contrastive 'and/whereas', balancing the two clauses without flat opposition.
> «с самого первого раза» — from the very first time: «сам» here is the intensifier 'very', agreeing with «первого раза» in the genitive after «с». The phrasing dramatises the threshold moment — their relationship's literal first day.
> «дурно» — wickedly, badly: A somewhat elevated adverb for 'wrong/bad', stronger and more moral-toned than «плохо». «очень дурно подслушивать» frames eavesdropping as an ethical fault, matching the half-serious confessional register Lise affects.

— Делайте. Ничего за мной такого не подглядите, — засмеялся Алеша.  
"Do as you like. You'll catch nothing of the sort in me," Alyosha laughed.
> Genitive of negation + negative concord: «Ничего… не подглядите» pairs the negative pronoun «ничего» (genitive of «ничто») with the obligatory «не» — Russian's double negation. The genitive «ничего такого» is the negated object: 'you'll spy out nothing of the sort in me.'
> Bare imperative «Делайте»: A one-word polite imperative ('do [it]'), with no object — 'do as you like.' The terse command, then a laugh, signals Alyosha's easy, untroubled conscience.

— Алеша, а будете ли вы мне подчиняться? Это тоже надо заранее решить.  
"Alyosha, and will you submit to me? This too must be settled in advance."
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «будете ли вы» fronts the verb and adds enclitic «ли» to form a neutral yes/no question ('will you indeed submit?'). «подчиняться» governs the dative «мне» ('submit to me'). The «ли» lends a touch of mock-formal solemnity to the marriage-pact game.
> Impersonal «надо» + infinitive: «Это надо решить» is a subjectless modal construction: «надо» ('one must / it's necessary') plus the perfective infinitive «решить», with no nominative subject. Such impersonal 'must' phrasings are pervasive in Russian.

— С большою охотой, Lise, и непременно, только не в самом главном.  
"With great willingness, Lise, and without fail — only not in the most important things."
> Instrumental of manner «с… охотой»: «с большою охотой» ('with great willingness') is the instrumental after «с», a set adverbial of manner. The ending «-ою» (for modern «-ой») is the older, more bookish/poetic feminine instrumental form, common in 19th-c. prose.
> «непременно» — without fail: A favourite Dostoevskian intensifier built on «премена» (change) with «не-»: literally 'unchangeably', hence 'certainly, infallibly.' It conveys earnest, absolute assurance.

В самом главном, если вы будете со мной несогласны, то я все-таки сделаю, как мне долг велит.  
In the most important things, if you should disagree with me, I shall all the same do as my duty bids me.
> Real conditional «если… то»: A real (not counterfactual) condition: «если» + future «будете несогласны», answered by «то» + perfective future «сделаю». No «бы» here — this is a genuine future contingency, contrasting with the irrealis «если бы» Lise uses elsewhere.
> Dative «мне» with «велит»: «долг велит» ('duty bids/commands') takes a dative of the person commanded — «мне долг велит», 'duty bids me.' The construction frames Alyosha as the one duty acts upon, a quietly fatalistic phrasing.
> «велеть» — to bid, command: An elevated verb for 'order/bid', loftier than «приказывать». «как долг велит» is near-formulaic — 'as duty commands' — and lends Alyosha's vow a solemn, almost liturgical cadence.

— Так и нужно.  
"That's just as it should be."
> «Так и нужно» — that's just how it should be: An idiomatic impersonal approval: «нужно» ('it is needed/right') with the emphatic «и» after «так». Lise endorses Alyosha's stubbornness — 'that's exactly as it should be' — a flicker of genuine respect inside the banter.

Так знайте, что и я, напротив, не только в самом главном подчиняться готова, но и во всем уступлю вам и вам теперь же клятву в этом даю — во всем к на всю жизнь, — вскричала пламенно Lise, — и это со счастием, со счастием!  
"Then know that I, on the contrary, am ready to submit to you not only in the most important things, but to yield to you in everything — and I give you my oath of it here and now — in everything, for the whole of life," cried Lise ardently, "and gladly, gladly!"
> Correlative «не только… но и»: The paired conjunction «не только… но и» ('not only… but also') escalates from «подчиняться готова» (ready to submit) to «во всем уступлю» (I'll yield in everything). It is a key rhetorical scaffold of emphatic Russian speech.
> «даю клятву» — present-tense performative: Imperfective present «даю» used performatively: the saying *is* the oath-giving, here and now («теперь же»). «клятву» is the accusative object; «в этом» ('of/in this') marks what the oath concerns.
> Perfective «вскричала» — a single burst: The prefix «вс-» on «кричать» gives a perfective verb of sudden onset: 'cried out, burst out.' Paired with the adverb «пламенно» ('ardently, flamingly'), it captures Lise's speech as one rushing flare.
> «пламенно» — ardently, flame-like: From «пламя» (flame): 'with fire, fervently.' A heightened, almost Romantic adverb that colours Lise's vow with theatrical passion — exactly the overflowing register Madame Khokhlakova will mock as «детские пустяки».

Мало того, клянусь вам, что я никогда не буду за вами подслушивать, ни разу и никогда, ни одного письма вашего не прочту, потому что вы правы, а я нет.  
What is more, I swear to you that I shall never eavesdrop on you, not once and never, nor read a single one of your letters, because you are in the right and I am not.
> Piled-up negative concord: Lise heaps «никогда», «ни разу», «ни одного» all under a single «не» on each verb — the obligatory Russian negative concord, where many ни-/не- words make one emphatic negation. «ни одного письма не прочту» also puts the negated object «письма» in the genitive.
> «Мало того» — what is more: A fixed connective: literally 'little of that' → 'and that's not all, moreover.' It signals an outdoing escalation — Lise tops her oath with a still-larger one.

И хоть мне ужасно будет хотеться подслушивать, я это знаю, но я все-таки не буду, потому что вы считаете это неблагородным.  
And though I shall want dreadfully to eavesdrop — I know it — I still shan't, because you consider it dishonorable.
> Dative-subject «хотеться»: «мне хотеться» is the impersonal, dative-experiencer version of 'want': not 'I want' but 'it will be want-ing to me' — desire as something that comes over her. The reflexive -ся and the dative «мне» are the marks of this subjectless construction so dear to Dostoevsky's inner life.
> Predicate instrumental «неблагородным»: «считать что-л. неблагородным» ('to consider something dishonourable') takes the predicate complement in the instrumental — «неблагородным», not the nominative. This instrumental of the predicate after verbs like «считать», «находить» is standard.
> «неблагородный» — ignoble, dishonourable: From «благородный» ('noble', literally 'well-born'), with «не-». The word carries a class overtone — conduct unworthy of a gentleman — which is precisely the chivalric code the children are play-acting.

Вы теперь как мое провидение… Слушайте, Алексей Федорович, почему вы такой грустный все эти дни, и вчера и сегодня; я знаю, что у вас есть хлопоты, бедствия, но я вижу, кроме того, что у вас есть особенная какая-то грусть, секретная может быть, а?  
You are now like my providence... Listen, Alexei Fyodorovich, why have you been so sad all these days, both yesterday and today? I know you have your troubles and misfortunes, but beyond that I can see that you have some particular sadness, a secret one perhaps — eh?
> Possession «у вас есть» + indefinite «какая-то»: Russian 'have' is «у + genitive + есть + nominative»: «у вас есть… грусть» = 'with you there is a sadness.' The indefinite «какая-то» (interrogative «какая» + clitic «-то») marks a specific but unidentified kind — 'some sadness or other.'
> «хлопоты», «бедствия» — cares and calamities: «хлопоты» (a plurale tantum) is bustling, troublesome cares and errands; «бедствия» are graver disasters/misfortunes. The pairing moves from everyday fuss to real affliction, sketching the weight on Alyosha.

— Да, Lise, есть и секретная, — грустно произнес Алеша. — Вижу, что меня любите, коли угадали это.  
"Yes, Lise, there is a secret one too," Alyosha said sadly. "I see that you love me, since you've guessed it."
> Dropped pronouns + «коли»: Both subjects are dropped — «(Я) вижу», «(вы) меня любите», «(вы) угадали» — since the verb endings carry person. «коли» is a folksy, archaic 'if/since' (= «если/раз»), warmer and more colloquial than «если».
> «коли» — colloquial 'if / since': A rustic, old-fashioned conditional conjunction beloved in folk speech and 19th-c. dialogue. Its homely tone softens Alyosha's gentle deduction — 'since you guessed it.'

— Какая же грусть? О чем? Можно сказать? — с робкою мольбой произнесла Lise.  
"What is the sadness about, then? About what? May you tell?" Lise said, with timid entreaty.
> Impersonal «можно» + infinitive: «Можно сказать?» ('may [one] tell?') is a subjectless modal: «можно» ('it is permitted/possible') plus the perfective infinitive. No subject is named — the permission hangs impersonally, fitting Lise's «робкая мольба».
> Instrumental of manner «с… мольбой»: Another «с» + instrumental adverbial of manner ('with timid entreaty'). Again the archaic «-ою» ending on «робкою» marks the elevated literary register of Dostoevsky's narration.
> «мольба» — entreaty, supplication: From «молить» (to beseech, pray), kin to «молитва» (prayer). The word lends Lise's question a near-devotional intensity — she pleads to be let into his secret.

— Потом скажу, Lise… после… — смутился Алеша. — Теперь, пожалуй, и непонятно будет.  
"Later I'll tell you, Lise... afterward..." Alyosha grew flustered. "For now it would probably not even be understood."
> Impersonal predicate «непонятно будет»: «непонятно будет» ('it would be unintelligible') is an impersonal construction — a neuter -о predicative with future «будет», no subject. The particle «пожалуй» ('I daresay, probably') hedges it; together they convey Alyosha's reluctant evasiveness.
> Inchoative reflexive «смутился»: «смутиться» (perfective, reflexive -ся) means 'to become flustered/embarrassed' — a change-of-state middle, where -ся turns the transitive «смутить» (to disturb) inward. The perfective marks the sudden onset of his confusion.

Да я, пожалуй, и сам не сумею сказать.  
Indeed, I probably couldn't even put it into words myself.
> Intensifier «сам» + «не сумею»: «сам» ('[my]self') intensifies the subject — even he himself couldn't say. «не сумею сказать» ('I won't manage to say') is the perfective future of «суметь» ('to be able, manage to'), distinct from «мочь»: it stresses skill/capacity rather than possibility.
> «пожалуй» — I suppose, perhaps: A modal particle of tentative concession: 'perhaps, I daresay, very likely.' Repeated across these lines, it textures Alyosha's halting honesty — he yields to the thought without committing to it.

— Я знаю, кроме того, что вас мучают ваши братья, отец?  
"I know, besides, that your brothers and your father torment you?"
> Object-first word order: «вас мучают ваши братья» fronts the accusative object «вас» before the subject «братья» — Russian's free word order, topic-first: 'you' is the known topic, 'your brothers (and father)' the new information that torments. Cases keep the roles clear despite the inversion.

— Да, и братья, — проговорил Алеша, как бы в раздумье.  
"Yes, my brothers too," Alyosha brought out, as if lost in thought.
> Hedging «как бы»: «как бы» ('as if, as it were') with «в раздумье» softens the description — 'as though lost in thought.' This «как бы» is one of Dostoevsky's signature tentativeness markers, refusing to pin a character's inner state down too firmly.
> «в раздумье» — in (deep) thought, hesitation: A bookish noun for brooding reflection, often with a tinge of indecision. «в раздумье» pictures Alyosha sunk in musing, weighing the bare admission 'yes, my brothers too.'

— Я вашего брата Ивана Федоровича не люблю, Алеша, — вдруг заметила Lise.  
"I don't like your brother Ivan Fyodorovich, Alyosha," Lise remarked suddenly.
> Genitive of negation on the animate object: Under negated «не люблю», the object «вашего брата Ивана Фёдоровича» stands in the genitive. For an animate masculine noun the genitive and accusative coincide anyway, but here negation reinforces it — and the whole name-phrase declines together.
> Perfective «заметила» — a sudden remark: «заметить» (perfective) here means 'to remark, note aloud', reinforced by «вдруг» ('suddenly'). The perfective past presents the comment as one abrupt, completed event breaking into the talk.

— Алеша замечание это отметил с некоторым удивлением, но не поднял его.  
Alyosha noted this remark with some surprise, but did not take it up.
> Topicalised object «замечание это»: «замечание это отметил» places the object before the verb, with the demonstrative «это» following its noun — a bookish, topicalising order ('this remark — he noted'). «не поднял его» ('did not take it up') uses «поднять» figuratively, as one 'picks up' a thread of talk.
> Instrumental of manner + «некоторый»: «с некоторым удивлением» ('with some/a certain surprise') is again «с» + instrumental of manner. «некоторый» ('a certain, some') hedges the degree, the narrator's careful understatement of Alyosha's reaction.

— Братья губят себя, — продолжал он, — отец тоже.  
"My brothers are destroying themselves," he went on, "and my father too."
> Reflexive pronoun «себя»: «губят себя» ('are destroying themselves') uses the full reflexive object pronoun «себя», pointing back to the subject «братья». «себя» has no nominative and is the same for any person — distinct from the verbal clitic -ся.
> «губить» — to ruin, destroy, doom: A heavy verb of moral and spiritual ruin (kin to «гибель», destruction; «погибнуть», to perish). Not mere harm but damnation-tinged self-destruction — the keynote of Alyosha's whole verdict on the Karamazovs.

И других губят вместе с собою.  
And they are destroying others along with themselves.
> Reflexive «с собою» + genitive «других»: «с собою» ('along with themselves') is the instrumental of reflexive «себя» after «с», in its archaic «-ою» form. «других» ('others') is the genitive/accusative animate plural object of «губят» — they doom others along with their own selves.

Тут «земляная карамазовская сила», как отец Паисий намедни выразился, — земляная и неистовая, необделанная… Даже носится ли дух божий вверху этой силы — и того не знаю.  
Here is that 'earthy Karamazov force,' as Father Paisy put it the other day — earthy and ungovernable, raw and unrefined... Whether the spirit of God even hovers above that force, I do not so much as know.
> «земляная», «неистовая», «необделанная»: «земляная» — 'earthy, of the soil' (not «земной», heavenly's opposite, but coarsely terrestrial); «неистовая» — 'frenzied, unbridled' (from «истовый», proper/measured, with «не-»); «необделанная» — 'unworked, unfinished, raw', as of uncut stone. Together they name the Karamazov nature as raw matter not yet shaped by grace.
> «намедни» — the other day: A colloquial, slightly old-fashioned adverb for 'recently, the other day, t'other day.' Its folksy flavour grounds the lofty theological phrase in everyday monastery talk.
> Embedded «ли» + genitive «того»: «носится ли…» is an indirect yes/no question ('whether the spirit hovers'), the «ли» meaning 'whether.' «и того не знаю» ('I don't even know that') puts the negated object «то» in the genitive «того», intensified by «и» — 'not even that do I know.'

Знаю только, что и сам я Карамазов… Я монах, монах?  
I only know that I myself am a Karamazov too... Am I a monk, a monk?
> Zero copula + intensifier «сам»: «я Карамазов» has no verb 'to be' — the present-tense copula is simply absent, the predicate noun standing bare in the nominative. «и сам я» ('I myself too') drives home the self-implication: Alyosha counts himself in the doomed family.

Монах я, Lise? Вы как-то сказали сию минуту, что я монах?  
Am I a monk, Lise? You somehow said just this minute that I am a monk?
> Predicate-first emphasis: Fronting «Монах» before the pronoun «я» throws the emphatic weight onto 'a monk' — the new, anxious focus of his question. Russian's free word order lets the comment lead for rhetorical stress.
> «сию минуту» — just this minute: «сию» is the accusative singular feminine of the archaic demonstrative «сей» ('this'; the genitive feminine is «сей»), surviving in fixed phrases. «сию минуту» means 'this very minute, just now' — a fossilised bit of bookish Russian still alive in speech.

— Да, сказала.  
"Yes, I did."
> Elliptical perfective answer: A one-word reply «сказала» ('[I] said'), subject dropped, the feminine -ла ending alone marking Lise as speaker. The perfective confirms the single completed act of having said it.

— А я в бога-то вот, может быть, и не верую.  
"And yet, you see, I may perhaps not even believe in God."
> Clitic «-то» + contrastive «А»: The emphatic clitic «-то» on «в бога-то» highlights 'God' as the loaded topic ('as for God…'). Opening «А» is the soft contrastive 'and yet', and «верую» («веровать») governs «в + accusative». Scattered «вот» and «может быть» make it halting, confessional speech.
> «веровать» vs «верить»: «веровать» (here «верую») is the solemn, archaic-religious verb 'to believe (in God), to have faith', as in the Creed «Верую…» ('I believe…'). Choosing it over everyday «верить» makes the negation «не верую» a near-blasphemous shock in a would-be monk's mouth.

— Вы не веруете, что с вами? — тихо и осторожно проговорила Lise.  
"You don't believe — what's the matter with you?" Lise said softly and warily.
> Idiomatic «что с вами?»: «что с вами?» — literally 'what [is] with you?' (с + instrumental) — is the set way to ask 'what's the matter with you?' No verb is expressed; the impersonal 'be' is understood. A small, intimate cry of alarm.
> Adverbs of manner + perfective «проговорила»: «тихо… осторожно» ('softly… warily') modify «проговорила», the perfective 'said/uttered' (prefix «про-»). The prefixed perfective frames the line as one careful, completed utterance — Lise feeling her way around his alarming confession.

Но Алеша не ответил на это.  
But Alyosha made no answer to this.
> Negated perfective «не ответил»: «ответить на + accusative» ('to answer to something'); «на это» is 'to this.' The negated perfective past «не ответил» reports the simple, completed non-event — he gave no answer — moving the narrative on with a silence.

Было тут, в этих слишком внезапных словах его нечто слишком таинственное и слишком субъективное, может быть и ему самому неясное, но уже несомненно его мучившее.  
There was in these too-sudden words of his something too mysterious and too subjective, unclear perhaps even to himself, yet already and unmistakably tormenting him.
> Existential «было» + «нечто»: An existential frame: «Было… нечто» ('there was something'), with the verb first and the indefinite «нечто» ('something', bookish for «что-то') as grammatical subject. The neuter adjectives «таинственное», «субъективное» agree with it.
> Past active participle «мучившее»: «мучившее» is a past active participle of «мучить» ('to torment'), agreeing as neuter with «нечто» — 'something… already tormenting him.' This «-вш-» participle condenses a «который»-clause into one word, the dense participial style typical of Dostoevsky's narration.
> «субъективное» — subjective: A learned Latinate loanword, fashionable in mid-19th-c. Russian intellectual prose. Its abstract, philosophical ring marks the narrator's analytic voice, dissecting Alyosha's inner state in the language of contemporary psychology.

— И вот теперь, кроме всего, мой друг уходит, первый в мире человек, землю покидает.  
"And now, on top of everything, my friend is leaving, the foremost man in the world — he is quitting the earth."
> Prefixed motion verb «уходит»: «уходит» ('is leaving') is «у-» (away) + «ходить», the multidirectional motion verb turned imperfective by the prefix; here the present tense gives a near-future, already-unfolding sense. «землю покидает» ('is quitting the earth') is the gentle euphemism for dying.
> «первый в мире человек» — the foremost man: Not 'first in the world' chronologically but 'the best, highest of all men' — «первый» as 'foremost, preeminent.' Alyosha's superlative tribute to the dying elder Zosima.
> «покидать» — to leave, abandon, depart from: An elevated verb of departure, weightier than «уходить» — 'to forsake, take leave of.' «землю покидает» casts death as a solemn quitting of the whole earthly realm, fitting for a holy man's passing.

Если бы вы знали, если бы вы знали, Lise, как я связан, как я спаян душевно с этим человеком!  
If only you knew, if only you knew, Lise, how bound I am, how my soul is welded to this man!
> Counterfactual «если бы» as exclamation: «если бы вы знали» ('if only you knew') is the irrealis: «если бы» + past «знали». Repeated, it functions as a near-interjection of overwhelmed feeling — a wish that the impossible knowledge could be shared.
> Short passive participles «связан», «спаян»: «связан» (bound) and «спаян» (welded/soldered) are short-form past passive participles in predicate use — the state-resulting passive. «с этим человеком» (с + instrumental) names what he is bound *with*. The metaphor of soldered metal makes the soul-tie almost physical.
> «спаять» — to solder, fuse together: From «паять» (to solder); «спаять» fuses two pieces into one. «спаян душевно» ('welded in soul') is a striking, industrial-age metaphor for spiritual union — far stronger than mere «связан», bound.

И вот я останусь один… Я к вам приду, Lise… Впредь будем вместе…  
And here I shall be left alone... I'll come to you, Lise... Henceforth we'll be together...
> Perfective futures «останусь», «приду»: Both are perfective-future (present-form endings, future sense): «останусь» ('I shall be left', reflexive «остаться») and «приду» ('I'll come', «прийти», the prefixed perfective of motion). Each names a single completed turn — being left alone, then coming to her.
> «впредь» — henceforth, from now on: A bookish, slightly archaic adverb meaning 'in future, hereafter.' Its formal solemnity lends Alyosha's promise — «Впредь будем вместе» — the air of a vow rather than a casual plan.

— Да, вместе, вместе! Отныне всегда вместе на всю жизнь.  
"Yes, together, together! From now on always together, for the whole of life."
> Verbless emphatic echo: A verbless exclamation — «(будем) вместе» understood — built of stacked adverbials: «Отныне» ('from now on'), «всегда» ('always'), «на всю жизнь» ('for the whole of life', на + accusative of extent). The asyndeton conveys Lise's breathless rapture.
> «отныне» — from this moment on: An elevated, almost liturgical adverb ('henceforth, from now'), echoing the «отныне и до века» of prayer. Lise answers Alyosha's solemn «впредь» with a still-grander 'from this hour forever.'

Слушайте, поцелуйте меня, я позволяю.  
Listen, kiss me, I allow it.
> Imperative «поцелуйте» + present «позволяю»: «поцелуйте» is the polite/plural imperative ('kiss [me]'), -й after the vowel stem plus -те. The performative present «я позволяю» ('I [hereby] allow') makes the permission itself the act — childlike formality crowning the moment.

Алеша поцеловал ее.  
Alyosha kissed her.
> Perfective «поцеловал» — the single act: The perfective past «поцеловал» (vs. imperfective «целовал') reports one completed kiss, moving the narrative forward by a single discrete event. «ее» is the accusative of «она».

— Ну теперь ступайте, Христос с вами! (И она перекрестила его).  
"Well, now go, Christ be with you!" (And she made the sign of the cross over him.)
> Imperative «ступайте» — go!: «ступайте» is the polite/plural imperative of «ступать» ('to step, go'), a slightly elevated, almost folk-solemn way of saying 'go.' It frames her dismissal as a small blessing-and-send-off.

Ступайте скорее к нему, пока жив.  
Go quickly to him, while he is still alive.
> Comparative adverb «скорее» + «пока»: «скорее» is the comparative of «скоро» ('quickly') used as 'quicker, with all speed.' «пока жив» ('while [he is] alive') is a «пока»-clause with the short adjective «жив» and zero copula — urgent compression: go before it's too late.
> Short adjective «жив»: «жив» is the short predicate form of «живой» ('alive'), used here in the timeless 'while he is alive.' The short form, restricted to the predicate, is the natural choice for such a transient state.

Я вижу, что жестоко вас задержала.  
I see that I have cruelly kept you.
> Perfective «задержала» + adverb «жестоко»: «задержать» (perfective) 'to hold/keep back, detain'; «жестоко» ('cruelly') is hyperbolic self-reproach. The completed past «задержала» (feminine -ла) frames the whole long visit as one act of delay she now regrets.

Я буду сегодня молиться за него и за вас.  
Today I shall pray for him and for you.
> Imperfective future of devotion + «за»: «буду молиться» is the compound imperfective future — prayer pictured as an ongoing activity, not a one-off. «за него и за вас» (за + accusative) is 'for him and for you', the standard way to name those one prays on behalf of.

Алеша, мы будем счастливы! Будем мы счастливы, будем?  
Alyosha, we shall be happy! We'll be happy, won't we, won't we?
> Inversion as tag-question: Lise first states «мы будем счастливы» (compound future of «быть» + short adjective «счастливы»), then inverts to «Будем мы… будем?» — fronting the verb turns it into an anxious, pleading question, equivalent to English 'won't we?' The short predicate «счастливы» is required after «быть».

— Кажется, будем, Lise.  
"It seems we shall, Lise."
> Impersonal «кажется» + elliptical future: «кажется» ('it seems') is an impersonal hedging verb, parenthetical here. «будем» alone ('[we] shall [be happy]') drops the predicate, recoverable from Lise's question — Alyosha's gentle, qualified assent.

Выйдя от Lise, Алеша не заблагорассудил пройти к госпоже Хохлаковой и, не простясь с нею, направился было из дому.  
On leaving Lise, Alyosha did not see fit to go in to Madame Khokhlakova, and, without taking his leave of her, he was about to head out of the house.
> Perfective gerunds «выйдя», «не простясь»: Two perfective adverbial participles («деепричастия»): «выйдя» ('having left', from «выйти') and «не простясь» ('without taking leave', «проститься», reflexive). They mark prior/attendant actions sharing Alyosha's subject — the layered participial syntax that is a signature of literary narration.
> Particle «было» — the cancelled intention: «было» after the past verb «направился» is the special particle marking an action begun or intended but not carried through — 'he was about to head out (but…).' It cues the reader for the interruption in the next sentence.
> «заблагорассудить» — to see fit: A heavy, ironic compound («благо» good + «рассудить» judge): 'to deem fit, see fit.' Its mock-ceremonious bulk lightly mocks Alyosha's small social decision to slip past Madame Khokhlakova — narratorial dry humour.

Но только что отворил дверь и вышел на лестницу, откуда ни возьмись пред ним сама госпожа Хохлакова.  
But the moment he had opened the door and stepped onto the landing, out of nowhere Madame Khokhlakova herself appeared before him.
> «только что» + perfectives: «только что» ('the very moment / just as') with the perfective pasts «отворил» and «вышел» (both prefixed perfectives) chains two completed acts — opened the door, stepped out — setting up the sudden encounter. «отворить» is a bookish, slightly archaic 'to open (a door).'
> «откуда ни возьмись» — out of nowhere: A frozen idiom (literally 'from-where-ever it might take itself') meaning 'out of the blue, from nowhere.' The fossilised imperative-with-«ни» construction has a fairy-tale, folk-narrative ring — apt for Khokhlakova's comic ambush.

С первого слова Алеша догадался, что она поджидала его тут нарочно.  
From her first word Alyosha guessed that she had been lying in wait for him there on purpose.
> Reported clause «что» + imperfective «поджидала»: «догадался, что…» ('guessed that…') opens a «что»-clause of reported fact. «поджидала» is the imperfective of «поджидать» ('to lie in wait, watch for'), its prefix «по-» and imperfective aspect conveying drawn-out, deliberate lurking — confirmed by «нарочно» ('on purpose').
> «нарочно» — on purpose, deliberately: A common adverb for intentional action, often with a faint sense of contrivance or mischief. It exposes Khokhlakova's ambush as premeditated, not chance.

— Алексей Федорович, это ужасно.  
"Alexei Fyodorovich, this is dreadful."
> Neuter predicate «ужасно»: «это ужасно» ('this is dreadful') uses the impersonal neuter -о predicative «ужасно» with zero copula. The bare, emphatic two-word outburst launches Khokhlakova's flustered tirade.

Это детские пустяки и всё вздор.  
This is childish trifling and all nonsense.
> «пустяки», «вздор» — trifles and nonsense: «пустяки» (from «пустой», empty) are 'trifles, mere nothings'; «вздор» is dismissive 'rubbish, nonsense, twaddle.' Heaped together with «детские» ('childish'), they are Khokhlakova's verbal broom sweeping the engagement aside.

Надеюсь, вы не вздумаете мечтать… Глупости, глупости и глупости! — накинулась она на него.  
I hope you won't take it into your head to dream... Foolishness, foolishness, and foolishness!" she fell upon him.
> «вздумать» + negated perfective future: «вздумать» (perfective, 'to take it into one's head') in the negated future «не вздумаете» functions almost as a warning imperative: 'don't you dare dream / take it into your head.' «мечтать» is the imperfective infinitive 'to dream, fantasise.'
> «накинуться на» — to pounce, fly at: «накинуться на + accusative» means 'to fall upon, round on, fly at' someone — a verb of sudden verbal or physical attack. It paints Khokhlakova literally pouncing on Alyosha with her «Глупости, глупости!»
> «глупости» — foolishness (threefold): «глупость» ('stupidity, foolish thing'), here plural for 'nonsense.' The threefold drumbeat is pure Khokhlakova rhetoric — repetition as exasperated emphasis, a tic of her excitable speech throughout the novel.

— Только не говорите этого ей, — сказал Алеша, — а то она будет взволнована, а это ей теперь вредно.  
"Only don't tell her that," said Alyosha, "or she'll be agitated, and that is harmful for her now."
> Negated imperfective imperative + genitive: «не говорите» is the negated imperative — and negated commands strongly prefer the imperfective «говорить», a key aspect rule. The negated object «этого» stands in the genitive (genitive of negation), while «ей» is the dative addressee.
> «а то» + dative-evaluative «ей вредно»: «а то» ('or else, otherwise') introduces the feared consequence. «она будет взволнована» uses a short passive participle as future predicate ('she'll be agitated'); «это ей… вредно» is a dative-experiencer evaluative ('that is harmful for her'), the affected person in the dative.

— Слышу благоразумное слово благоразумного молодого человека.  
"I hear the sensible word of a sensible young man."
> Dropped subject + genitive of possession: «(Я) слышу» drops the pronoun (the -у ending marks 1sg). «благоразумного молодого человека» is the genitive of the source/possessor — 'the sensible word *of* a sensible young man' — with full adjective–noun agreement across three words. The doubled «благоразумн-» is faintly ironic flattery.
> «благоразумный» — prudent, sensible: A compound of «благо» (good) + «разум» (reason): 'sound of judgement, level-headed.' Khokhlakova's pivot from scolding to praise, the elevated word lending her approval a touch of ceremony — and condescension.

Понимать ли мне так, что вы сами только потому соглашались с ней, что не хотели, из сострадания к ее болезненному состоянию, противоречием рассердить ее?  
Am I to understand, then, that you agreed with her only because, out of pity for her sickly condition, you didn't want to anger her by contradicting?
> «ли» in a dative-infinitive question: «Понимать ли мне…» is a dative-subject infinitive question with the particle «ли»: literally 'is it for me to understand…?' — i.e. 'am I to understand that…?' The dative «мне» + infinitive frames a deliberative question; «ли» makes it interrogative.
> Instrumental of means «противоречием»: «рассердить ее противоречием» — 'to anger her by contradiction' — puts «противоречием» in the instrumental of means/cause (the 'by what' of the action). The «потому что»-clause supplies Khokhlakova's shrewd reconstruction of Alyosha's motive.
> «сострадание», «болезненное состояние»: «сострадание» (compassion, 'co-suffering', а calque of Greek/Latin) governs «к + dative». «болезненное состояние» — 'sickly/morbid condition' — refers to Lise's invalidism (she is partly paralysed). Khokhlakova frames Alyosha's agreement as mere pity for a sick child.

— О нет, совсем нет, я совершенно серьезно с нею говорил, — твердо заявил Алеша.  
"Oh no, not at all, I spoke with her in complete seriousness," Alyosha declared firmly.
> Imperfective «говорил» of manner + «с нею»: «серьёзно… говорил» uses the imperfective past to describe *how* he spoke — manner and process, not a single act. «с нею» (с + instrumental, archaic «-ею» for «ней») is 'with her.' «совсем нет» emphatically negates Khokhlakova's reading.
> Perfective «заявил» — a firm declaration: «заявить» (perfective) 'to declare, state', with «твёрдо» ('firmly') — one decisive, completed act of assertion. The perfective speech-tag, against Alyosha's usual hesitant imperfectives, marks unusual resolve.

— Серьезность тут невозможна, немыслима, и во-первых, я вас теперь совсем не приму ни разу, а во-вторых, я уеду и ее увезу, знайте это.  
"Seriousness here is impossible, unthinkable; and first, I shan't receive you now, not even once, and second, I shall go away and take her with me — know that."
> Enumerating with «во-первых / во-вторых»: «во-первых» ('firstly') and «во-вторых» ('secondly') are the fixed ordinal adverbs (prepositional «в» + ordinal) that structure an argument. The «а» joining them is the soft contrastive 'and (then).' Khokhlakova marshals her threats like a debater.
> Prefixed perfective motion «уеду», «увезу»: «уеду» ('I'll go away', «у-» + «ехать') and «увезу» ('I'll take her away', «у-» + «везти') are perfective futures of prefixed motion verbs — the prefix «у-» 'away' both gives direction and makes the verbs perfective. Two single completed departures.
> «немыслимый» — unthinkable: From «мыслить» (to think) + «не-»: 'unthinkable, inconceivable', stronger than «невозможно» (impossible). Paired short forms «невозможна, немыслима» (predicate of «серьёзность») redouble the dismissal of any seriousness in the match.

— Да зачем же, — сказал Алеша, — ведь это так еще неблизко, года полтора еще, может быть, ждать придется.  
"But why?" said Alyosha. "After all, it's still so far off — a year and a half yet, perhaps, we'll have to wait."
> Particles «же» and «ведь»: «Да зачем же» — «да» softens, «же» presses the question ('but why on earth?'). «ведь» then appeals to shared sense ('after all, you know'). These modal particles, untranslatable singly, carry the conversational texture of Alyosha's mild remonstrance.
> Impersonal «придётся» + numeral phrase: «придётся ждать» ('one will have to wait') is the impersonal future of «прийтись» ('to have to, fall to one'), no subject — necessity imposed by circumstance. «года полтора» ('about a year and a half') inverts noun and numeral to mean 'roughly', with «года» in the count-form genitive.

— Ах, Алексей Федорович, это, конечно, правда, и в полтора года вы тысячу раз с ней поссоритесь и разойдетесь.  
"Ah, Alexei Fyodorovich, that, of course, is true, and in a year and a half you'll quarrel with her a thousand times and part ways."
> Perfective futures + accusative of measure: «поссоритесь» and «разойдётесь» are perfective-future reflexives ('you'll quarrel… and part'). «тысячу раз» ('a thousand times') is the accusative of measure/extent, «в полтора года» the time-span. The perfectives picture each future rupture as a single completed event, multiplied.
> «разойтись» — to part, drift apart: «разойтись» (раз- 'apart' + «идти») means 'to part ways, separate, break up' — of people going off in different directions, hence figuratively of a couple splitting. Khokhlakova predicts the engagement will simply dissolve.

Но я так несчастна, так несчастна! Пусть это всё пустяки, но это меня сразило.  
But I am so unhappy, so unhappy! Let it all be trifles, but it has shattered me.
> Concessive «пусть»: «Пусть… (и)» here is concessive, not a command: 'let it be / granted that it's all trifles' (≈ «хотя»). «пусть» introduces a granted point that the «но»-clause then overrides — a common conversational concession.
> Perfective «сразило» — struck down: «сразить» (perfective) 'to smite, lay low, strike down' (as in battle), here figuratively 'has shattered/devastated me.' The neuter past «сразило» agrees with neuter subject «это»; the perfective marks the blow as a single accomplished stroke.
> Short adjective «несчастна»: «несчастна» (doubled for effect) is the short predicate form of «несчастный» ('unhappy, wretched'). The short form suits the momentary, intense state of feeling — Khokhlakova's self-dramatising woe.

Теперь я как Фамусов в последней сцене, вы Чацкий, она Софья, и представьте, я нарочно убежала сюда на лестницу, чтобы вас встретить, а ведь и там всё роковое произошло на лестнице.  
Now I am like Famusov in the last scene, you are Chatsky, she is Sofya, and just imagine — I deliberately ran out here onto the landing to meet you, and there too the whole fateful business happened on a staircase.
> Purpose clause «чтобы» + infinitive: «чтобы вас встретить» ('in order to meet you') is a purpose clause: «чтобы» + infinitive when the subject is the same as the main clause. «убежала» (perfective, «у-» + «бежать') is 'ran off/out here' — one completed dash.
> «роковой» — fateful, fatal: From «рок» (fate, doom): 'of destiny, fateful, ruinous.' «всё роковое произошло на лестнице» ('the whole fateful business happened on the staircase') drapes the comparison in tragic colouring — Khokhlakova relishing her own melodrama.

Я всё слышала, я едва устояла.  
I heard everything; I could scarcely keep my feet.
> Aspectual pair «слышала / устояла»: «слышала» (imperfective past) reports the ongoing act of overhearing — she 'was hearing it all'; «устояла» (perfective, «устоять» 'to stand firm, keep one's feet') is a single completed result — she 'barely kept upright.' «едва» ('scarcely') heightens the near-collapse.

Так вот где объяснение ужасов всей этой ночи и всех давешних истерик!  
So that is the explanation of the horrors of this whole night and of all the hysterics earlier!
> Genitive chain «объяснение… ужасов… истерик»: «объяснение ужасов… и… истерик» strings genitive-of objects: 'the explanation of the horrors… and of the hysterics.' «всей этой ночи» and «всех давешних истерик» are full agreeing genitive phrases. «Так вот где…» ('so that's where…') is a discovery-formula.
> «давешний» — earlier (today), of a while ago: A colloquial, old-fashioned adjective from «давеча» ('a while ago, earlier today') meaning 'the recent, earlier (of the same day).' «давешних истерик» — 'the hysterics from earlier' — places the fit firmly within the day's events.

Дочке любовь, а матери смерть.  
Love for the daughter, and death for the mother.
> Verbless dative-of-recipient parallelism: A pithy, copula-less proverb-shaped line: «Дочке любовь, а матери смерть» — datives «дочке» and «матери» as recipients ('to the daughter — love, to the mother — death'), balanced by contrastive «а». The compression and rhythm give it the sting of a folk saying.
> «дочка» — diminutive of «дочь»: «дочка» (vs. neutral «дочь») is the affectionate diminutive 'little daughter, dear daughter', dative «дочке». Set against the bare «матери… смерть», the tender suffix sharpens the self-pitying antithesis — sweetness for the girl, doom for her mother.

Ложись в гроб.  
Lie down in your coffin.
> Imperfective imperative «ложись»: «Ложись» is the singular imperative of imperfective «ложиться» (to lie down), built on the present stem with a stressed -и ending. The imperfective imperative here is a blunt, peremptory command — fitting Madame Khokhlakova's near-hysterical theatricality.
> «в» + accusative for motion-into: «в гроб» uses the accusative («гроб» is inanimate masculine, so it matches the nominative) because the preposition «в» here names motion into something — lying down into the coffin — not location. Location would take the prepositional «в гробу».

Теперь второе и самое главное: что это за письмо, которое она вам написала, покажите мне его сейчас, сейчас!  
Now to the second thing, and the most important: what is this letter she wrote to you — show it to me at once, at once!
> The exclamatory idiom «что это за…»: «что это за» is a fixed interrogative-exclamatory frame meaning 'what sort of … is this'. The noun after «за» stays in the nominative — «за» does not govern its case here — and the whole turn carries a tone of demanding wonder or indignation.
> Relative «которое» agreeing with «письмо»: «которое» takes neuter singular to agree with its antecedent «письмо», but stands in the accusative because it is the direct object inside its own clause ('which she wrote'). «вам» is the dative indirect object — wrote to you.
> Polite/plural imperative «покажите»: «покажите» is the perfective imperative of «показать», with the -те ending marking the polite/plural 'you'. The perfective frames it as a single decisive act — show it now, once and for all — reinforced by the doubled «сейчас, сейчас!».

— Нет, не надо.  
— No, there is no need.
> Impersonal «не надо» — no need: «не надо» is an impersonal predicate: there is no nominative subject, just the invariable modal word «надо» negated. It means 'there's no need / one mustn't', a standing experiencer-less construction whose person, if expressed, would stand in the dative.

Скажите, как здоровье Катерины Ивановны, мне очень надо знать.  
Tell me, how is Katerina Ivanovna's health? I very much need to know.
> Dative experiencer with «надо»: Here «надо» carries an explicit experiencer in the dative, «мне» — literally 'to me it is very necessary to know'. There is no nominative subject; the felt need is framed as something happening to the person, a hallmark of Russian's inner-life syntax.

— Продолжает лежать в бреду, она не очнулась; ее тетки здесь и только ахают и надо мной гордятся, а Герценштубе приехал и так испугался, что я не знала, что с ним и делать и чем его спасти, хотела даже послать за доктором.  
— She is still lying delirious, she has not come to her senses; her aunts are here and do nothing but moan and put on airs over me, and Herzenstube came and took such a fright that I did not know what to do with him or how to revive him, I was even ready to send for a doctor.
> «продолжать» + imperfective infinitive: «продолжает лежать» — 'continues to lie' — pairs the phasal verb «продолжать» with an imperfective infinitive, which is obligatory: one can only continue a process, never a completed act. «в бреду» is the stressed -у́ locative (prepositional) of «бред», delirium.
> Negated perfective past «не очнулась»: «очнулась» is the perfective past (feminine -лась) of reflexive «очнуться», to come to one's senses; negated, it denies that the single event happened — 'she has not come round'. The -ся/-сь here is the middle/change-of-state use, not a true reflexive.
> «ахать» — to gasp and moan: «ахают» (from «ахать») is an expressive, onomatopoeic imperfective: to keep saying 'ah!', i.e. to gasp, moan, and exclaim helplessly. The imperfective present paints the aunts' fluttering uselessness as ongoing background noise.
> «гордиться» + instrumental; «надо мной»: «гордятся» (reflexive «гордиться», to take pride) governs the instrumental of what one is proud of. The colloquial twist «надо мной гордятся» — 'put on airs over me' — and the variant of «над» as «надо» before the cluster мн- both belong to indignant spoken Russian.
> Resultative «так… что» with reflexive perfective: «испугался» is the perfective past of «испугаться» (to take fright), and «так… что» sets up a degree-result clause: 'took such a fright that…'. The -ся marks the intransitive change of state — fear coming over him.

Его увезли в моей карете.  
He was carried off in my own carriage.
> Subjectless 3rd-person plural «увезли»: «увезли» is a bare third-person-plural past with no stated subject — the impersonal 'they carried him off', Russian's neutral way of saying he was taken away without naming an agent. «увезти» is a prefixed perfective verb of motion (у- 'away' on «везти», to convey by vehicle).
> Possessive «моей» + locative «в карете»: «в моей карете» is the prepositional case marking location/means of conveyance, with «моей» agreeing with feminine «карета» in gender, number, and case. The pointed «моей» — my own carriage — adds Khokhlakova's self-dramatizing generosity.

И вдруг в довершение всего вы вдруг с этим письмом.  
And now, all of a sudden, to crown it all, you turn up with this letter.
> Verbless clause — 'and suddenly you with this letter': There is no verb: «вы… с этим письмом» ('you, with this letter') leaves the action to be supplied by tone, a breathless spoken-Russian ellipsis. «с этим письмом» is «с» + instrumental of accompaniment, with the demonstrative «этим» agreeing with neuter «письмо».
> «в довершение всего» — to crown it all: A fixed bookish idiom: 'as the finishing touch to everything', i.e. 'to top it all off'. «довершение» is a deverbal noun (from «довершить», to bring to completion), and «всего» is the genitive of «всё».

Правда, всё это еще через полтора года.  
True, all of this is still a year and a half off.
> «через» + accusative; «полтора года»: «через» here marks time-after — 'in a year and a half'. «полтора» (one and a half) is a special numeral that, like два/три/четыре, takes the genitive singular «года». The whole phrase reads as a verbless 'all this is still a year and a half away'.

Именем всего великого и святого, именем умирающего старца вашего покажите мне это письмо, Алексей Федорович, мне, матери!  
In the name of all that is great and holy, in the name of your dying elder, show me that letter, Alexei Fyodorovich — show me, a mother!
> Instrumental of adjuration «именем»: «именем» is the instrumental of «имя» ('name') used to swear or adjure: 'in the name of'. The neuter adjectives «великого и святого» are substantivized in the genitive after «всего» — 'all that is great and holy' — giving the plea a solemn, oath-like cadence.
> Present active participle «умирающего»: «умирающего» is the present active participle of imperfective «умирать» (to be dying), in -ющ-, declined as an adjective and agreeing with «старца» in the genitive. It compresses 'the elder who is dying' into one modifier — a bookish, literary touch.
> Dative apposition «мне, матери»: «мне, матери» repeats the dative ('to me, a mother'), with «матери» the dative singular of «мать» standing in apposition to «мне». The reiteration heightens the maternal appeal — show it to me, to a mother.

Если хотите, то держите его пальцами, а я буду читать из ваших рук.  
If you like, hold it in your fingers, and I will read it out of your hands.
> «если…, то…» with imperative; instrumental «пальцами»: The conditional «если…, то…» ('if…, then…') here resolves into an imperative, «держите» ('hold'). «пальцами» is the instrumental plural — holding by means of the fingers — the case of the instrument of an action.
> Compound imperfective future «буду читать»: «буду читать» is the imperfective future: conjugated «быть» plus the imperfective infinitive «читать». It names an ongoing act of reading — 'I will be reading it out of your hands' — rather than a single completed one.

— Нет, не покажу, Катерина Осиповна, хотя бы и она позволила, я не покажу.  
— No, I will not show it, Katerina Osipovna; even were she to permit it, I would not show it.
> Perfective future as refusal «не покажу»: «покажу» is the perfective verb «показать» conjugated like a present, which yields a simple future: 'I will (not) show'. Negated and repeated, the perfective future expresses a firm, settled refusal of the single act.
> Concessive irrealis «хотя бы… позволила»: «хотя бы… позволила» combines the concessive «хотя бы» ('even if') with the particle «бы» plus a past-tense form to build the irrealis: 'even were she to permit it'. The past form «позволила» carries no past meaning here — it is the conditional's standard base.

Я завтра приду и, если хотите, я с вами о многом переговорю, а теперь — прощайте!  
I will come tomorrow, and, if you like, I will talk many things over with you, but for now — farewell!
> Perfective future of motion «приду»: «приду» is the perfective future of «прийти» (to come/arrive), a prefixed motion verb (при- 'arrival' on the идти root). Conjugated like a present, it names a single completed future coming — 'I will come tomorrow'.
> «о многом» + prepositional; «а теперь»: «о многом» is «о» + the prepositional of «многое» ('much, many things') — the topic talked about. «а теперь» uses the contrastive «а» to pivot — 'but for now' — a soft hinge of opposition rather than flat 'but'.
> «прощайте» — farewell, forgive: «прощайте» (imperative of «прощать», to forgive) literally means 'forgive [me]' and serves as a weightier 'farewell' than «до свидания» ('until we meet'). It can hint at a more final parting — fitting Alyosha's abrupt exit.

И Алеша выбежал с лестницы на улицу.  
And Alyosha ran down the stairs and out into the street.
> Prefixed perfective of motion «выбежал»: «выбежал» is the perfective past of «выбежать» — the prefix вы- ('out') on «бежать» (to run) — naming a single completed dash out. Prefixing the motion verb both gives precise direction (outward) and makes the pair an ordinary perfective.
> Source and goal: «с» + gen., «на» + acc.: The two phrases trace the trajectory: «с лестницы» is «с» + genitive marking the source ('down from the stairs'), and «на улицу» is «на» + accusative marking motion toward the goal ('out into the street'). Together they map the whole run from inside to out.
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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.