# The Brothers Karamazov, "It's Always Worth While Speaking to a Clever Man"

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

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b5-c7. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/karamazov/b5-c7.json.


Да и говорил тоже.  
And speak he did.
> Emphatic «да и» plus topic-fronted verb: The verb «говорил» is pulled to the front and «тоже» tacked on for a wry afterthought; English has to recast it as the emphatic "And speak he did." «Да и» here is not "yes" but a colloquial additive — "and indeed, and what's more."
> Imperfective past as a fact: The imperfective «говорил» states a general fact — that talking did occur — rather than reporting one completed exchange. It picks up and confirms the preceding heading about its being worth speaking to a clever man.

Встретив Федора Павловича в зале, только что войдя, он вдруг закричал ему, махая руками: «Я к себе наверх, а не к вам, до свидания», и прошел мимо, даже стараясь не взглянуть на отца.  
Meeting Fyodor Pavlovich in the hall the moment he came in, he suddenly shouted at him, waving his arms: "I'm going up to my own room, not in to you — goodbye," and walked past, even trying not to glance at his father.
> Two perfective gerunds set the scene: «Встретив» (having met) and «войдя» (having come in) are perfective past деепричастия — indeclinable verb-adverbs that compress prior actions sharing Ivan's subject before the main verb «закричал». Stacking them is a hallmark of Dostoevsky's narrative pace.
> Imperfective gerund of accompanying action: «махая» (waving) is the imperfective present gerund in -я, naming an action going on simultaneously with the shouting. The noun «руками» is instrumental — the means by which he waves.
> Contrastive «а» and reflexive «себе»: «а не к вам» pivots on the contrastive «а» ("and yet, but rather"), opposing his own room to his father's. «к себе» uses the reflexive «себя» in the dative after «к» — literally "to my own [place]."
> «зала» — the reception hall: The older feminine «зала» (modern «зал») is the large front hall or reception room of a gentry house, the public space one enters first — not a mere corridor.

Очень может быть, что старик слишком был ему в эту минуту ненавистен, но такое бесцеремонное проявление враждебного чувства даже и для Федора Павловича было неожиданным.  
Very likely the old man was simply too hateful to him at that moment, but such an unceremonious display of hostility came as a surprise even to Fyodor Pavlovich.
> Short adjective with a dative experiencer: «ненавистен» is the short (predicative) form of «ненавистный» — "hateful," agreeing masculine singular with «старик». The person to whom he is hateful stands in the dative, «ему», a quietly experiencer-centred construction.
> Instrumental predicate after «было»: After past-tense «было», the predicate adjective «неожиданным» takes the instrumental rather than the nominative — the standard frame for a state ascribed in the past tense.
> «бесцеремонный» — without ceremony: Literally "ceremony-less," the adjective means brusque, unceremonious, taking no trouble over politeness. Paired with «проявление… чувства» (a display of feeling), it stresses how raw and public Ivan's hostility was.

А старик и впрямь, видно, хотел ему что-то поскорей сообщить, для чего нарочно и вышел встретить его в залу; услышав же такую любезность, остановился молча и с насмешливым видом проследил сынка глазами на лестницу в мезонин до тех пор, пока тот скрылся из виду.  
And the old man had evidently meant, in fact, to tell him something in a hurry — that was the very reason he had come out on purpose to meet him in the hall; on hearing such a civility, however, he stopped in silence and, with a mocking look, followed his little son with his eyes up the stairs toward the attic, until the young man had vanished from sight.
> Perfective gerund with concessive «же»: «услышав» is a perfective past gerund ("on hearing"); the particle «же» here marks a contrastive turn — "but on hearing." «любезность» (a civility, a courtesy) is bitterly ironic, since what he heard was a rebuff.
> Correlative «до тех пор, пока» and «тот»: «до тех пор, пока» ("up until the moment that") is a temporal correlative; «тот» ("the latter, that one") tracks the son as topic, a typical demonstrative used to keep referents apart.
> Diminutive «сынок» — "his little son": «сынка» (acc./gen. of «сынок») is a diminutive of «сын». In the mouth of the narrator describing Fyodor Pavlovich's mocking gaze it is faintly condescending — a sneer dressed as endearment.
> «и впрямь» — "and in fact, sure enough": A colloquial confirming phrase, "really, truly, indeed." Combined with «видно» ("evidently, it seems"), it gives the narrator's voice a folksy, conversational warmth.

— Чего это он?  
"What's the matter with him?"
> Genitive «чего» in a clipped question: An elliptical spoken question — literally "Of what is he [doing] this?" «Чего» is the genitive of «что», common in such colloquial "what's he about?" idioms; «это» adds a here-and-now insistence.

— быстро спросил он вошедшего вслед за Иваном Федоровичем Смердякова.  
he quickly asked Smerdyakov, who had come in behind Ivan Fyodorovich.
> Past active participle as a compressed clause: «вошедшего» is the past active participle of «войти» ("who had come in"), declined accusative to agree with «Смердякова». It packs a whole который-clause — "Smerdyakov, who had come in behind Ivan" — into one modifier wrapped around its noun.
> Animate accusative: «Смердякова» is the accusative of an animate masculine name, borrowing the genitive ending -а; it is the object of «спросил» — "asked Smerdyakov."

— Сердятся на что-то-с, кто их разберет, — пробормотал тот уклончиво.  
"Cross about something, sir — who can make them out," the man muttered evasively.
> Indefinite «что-то» plus the deferential «-с»: «что-то» is a specific-but-unidentified "something." The clitic «-с» appended to it is the servile «-с» (slovoers), a contraction of «сударь» ("sir") that servants and petty clerks attach to mark deference — Smerdyakov's whole social posture in two letters.
> Plural-of-respect for the master: Smerdyakov speaks of Fyodor Pavlovich in the plural — «сердятся» ("they are cross"), «их разберет» ("make them out") — the deferential plural a servant uses for a single superior, oily and self-effacing.
> «уклончиво» — evasively: From «уклоняться» (to dodge, evade). The adverb characterizes Smerdyakov's whole manner — answering while sliding away from any commitment.

— А и черт!  
"Well, the devil take him!
> «А и черт!» — "oh, the devil!": An exasperated oath. «черт» (devil, deuce) peppers Fyodor Pavlovich's speech; here, with the dismissive «А и», it brushes the matter aside — "oh, to the devil with it."

Пусть сердится!  
Let him be cross!
> Third-person imperative with «пусть»: «пусть» plus a present-tense verb forms a third-person command or concession — "let him be cross." It hands the wish over to a subject the speaker cannot order directly.

Подавай самовар и скорей сам убирайся, живо.  
Bring the samovar and then clear out yourself, and be quick about it.
> Imperfective imperatives for immediate orders: «Подавай» and «убирайся» are imperfective imperatives. The imperfective command urges an action to begin at once and adds brusqueness — Fyodor Pavlovich barking at his servant. «убирайся» is the reflexive «убираться» — "clear off, get lost."
> «живо» — "look lively, be quick": An adverb from «живой» (alive) used as a snapped command: "smartly, at once." It caps the string of orders with impatience.

Нет ли чего нового?  
Anything new?"
> «нет» + genitive in a «ли»-question: A negated-existential question: «Нет ли…?» ("Is there not…?") demands the genitive — «чего нового» (genitive of «что-то новое»). The particle «ли» frames it as a tentative yes/no inquiry, hopeful and conspiratorial.

Тут начались расспросы именно из таких, на которые Смердяков сейчас жаловался Ивану Федоровичу, то есть всё насчет ожидаемой посетительницы, и мы эти расспросы здесь опустим.  
Here began the very questions of the kind Smerdyakov had just been complaining of to Ivan Fyodorovich — all of them, that is, about the expected visitor — and we shall pass these questions over here.
> Relative «который» in the accusative: «на которые» is the relative «который» governed by «жаловаться на» (to complain about), so it stands in the accusative plural after «на», while agreeing in number with «расспросы». A textbook case of the pronoun taking its own clause's case.
> Perfective future «опустим»: «опустим» is the perfective verb «опустить» (to omit) conjugated with present-tense endings, which yields future meaning — "we shall pass over." The narrator's editorial "we" promises a single, completed omission.
> «расспросы» — persistent questioning: The prefix рас- and plural give "a barrage of probing questions" rather than a single «вопрос». Fyodor Pavlovich's anxious interrogation of his servant about the awaited woman.

Чрез полчаса дом был заперт, и помешанный старикашка похаживал один по комнатам, в трепетном ожидании, что вот-вот раздадутся пять условных стуков, изредка заглядывая в темные окна и ничего в них не видя, кроме ночи.  
Within half an hour the house was locked up, and the deranged old man paced the rooms alone, in tremulous anticipation that at any moment the five agreed-upon knocks would sound, now and then peering into the dark windows and seeing nothing in them but the night.
> Short passive participle: result-state: «был заперт» joins past «был» to the short past-passive participle of «запереть» (to lock) — "was [stood] locked." This periphrastic passive states a resulting condition, not the act of locking.
> Imperfective gerunds with negative concord: «заглядывая» and «не видя» are imperfective gerunds of attendant action. «ничего не видя» shows Russian negative concord — the negative pronoun «ничего» (itself genitive of negation) co-occurs with «не» on the verb.
> «старикашка» and frequentative «похаживать»: «старикашка» is a pejorative-diminutive "wretched little old man." «похаживал» is a frequentative-iterative of «ходить» — to keep pacing back and forth — capturing his restless, deranged («помешанный») circling of the rooms.
> «условные стуки» — the prearranged knocks: «условный» means "agreed-upon, conventional, by signal." The five secret knocks are the code by which Grushenka would announce herself — a detail loaded with later plot menace.

Было уже очень поздно, а Иван Федорович всё не спал и соображал.  
It was already very late, and Ivan Fyodorovich still lay awake, turning things over.
> Imperfective duratives with intensifying «всё»: «не спал» and «соображал» are imperfectives of ongoing state; «всё» here is the adverbial "still, all the while," stressing the unbroken duration of his wakeful brooding.
> «соображать» — turning things over: More than "to think": to reason out, piece together, work something through in the mind. The imperfective conveys Ivan's mind grinding away without resolution.

Поздно он лег в эту ночь, часа в два.  
He went to bed late that night, around two o'clock.
> Fronted adverb «поздно» for focus: Putting «поздно» ("late") first throws the weight onto the lateness — the new, salient point — before the subject and verb. A small instance of Russian's focus-driven word order.
> Approximative inversion «часа в два»: Putting the noun before the preposition — «часа в два» rather than «в два часа» — signals approximation: "around two o'clock." «часа» is genitive singular after «два».

Но мы не станем передавать всё течение его мыслей, да и не время нам входить в эту душу: этой душе свой черед.  
But we shall not set down the whole course of his thoughts, nor is it the moment for us to enter into that soul: that soul will have its turn.
> «стать» as a future auxiliary: «не станем передавать» uses «стать» ("to begin/set about") plus an imperfective infinitive as a near-equivalent of the simple future — "we shall not undertake to convey." A common literary variant of the быть-future.
> Impersonal «не время» with a dative: «не время нам» is an impersonal construction: no nominative subject, the experiencer «нам» in the dative, and an infinitive — "it is not the time for us to enter." This dative-experiencer frame is everywhere in Russian.
> Dative possessor and reflexive «свой»: Verbless and terse: «этой душе» (dative) "to that soul" belongs «свой черед» — "its own turn." «свой» refers back to the soul itself; the missing copula gives the line an oracular, foreshadowing weight.

И даже если б и попробовали что передать, то было бы очень мудрено это сделать, потому что были не мысли, а было что-то очень неопределенное, а главное — слишком взволнованное.  
And even if we did try to convey something of it, it would be very hard to do, because they were not thoughts at all, but something very indefinite, and — above all — too agitated.
> Counterfactual conditional with «бы»: A full irrealis: «если б… попробовали» (past form + «б») in the protasis, «было бы… мудрено» in the apodosis — "even if we did try…, it would be hard." The reduced «б» for «бы» is colloquial-literary.
> Contrastive «не… а…»: The «не X, а Y» frame corrects rather than merely negates — "not thoughts, but rather something." «а» is the proper conjunction for this replacement contrast, never «но».
> «мудрено» — "tricky, hard to do": A predicative adverb from «мудрый» (wise): "intricate, hard to manage." Slightly archaic-folksy, it means the task would be cunningly difficult, not merely laborious.

Сам он чувствовал, что потерял все свои концы.  
He felt himself that he had lost all his bearings.
> Idiom «потерять концы» — to lose the threads: Literally "lost all his ends"; the idiom means to lose the threads, to no longer know where anything leads — rendered "lost all his bearings." «свои» (reflexive possessive) keeps the ends his own.

Мучили его тоже разные странные и почти неожиданные совсем желания, например: уж после полночи ему вдруг настоятельно и нестерпимо захотелось сойти вниз, отпереть дверь, пройти во флигель и избить Смердякова, но спросили бы вы за что, и сам он решительно не сумел бы изложить ни одной причины в точности, кроме той разве, что стал ему этот лакей ненавистен как самый тяжкий обидчик, какого только можно приискать на свете.  
He was tormented, too, by various strange and almost wholly unexpected desires; for instance, sometime after midnight he was suddenly seized by an urgent, unbearable craving to go downstairs, unbolt the door, cross to the lodge, and beat Smerdyakov — yet had you asked him what for, he himself could not have set out a single reason precisely, except perhaps that this lackey had become as hateful to him as the gravest offender one could find anywhere in the world.
> Object-first word order: The clause opens with verb and object «Мучили его» before the subject «желания» arrives at the end. Fronting the torment, withholding its cause, is an information-structuring choice the free word order allows.
> Impersonal «захотелось» + dative: «захотелось» is the reflexive impersonal of «хотеться»: no nominative subject, the wanter «ему» in the dative, and the wish welling up of itself — "a craving came over him." This is the experiencer-first idiom for desires that seize a person.
> Hypothetical «бы» — "had you asked": «спросили бы вы» is a conditional with «бы» fused to the past-form verb — a rhetorical "were you to ask" addressed to the reader. The «бы» follows the focused verb, as it likes to.
> Negated «бы» with «ни одной» in the genitive: «не сумел бы… ни одной причины» combines the conditional «бы» with emphatic «ни одной» ("not a single") and the genitive of negation «причины» — three layers of negation underlining his total inability to explain himself.
> «лакей», «обидчик», bookish «тяжкий»: «лакей» (lackey, footman) carries social contempt; «обидчик» is "one who wrongs/offends." «тяжкий» is the elevated doublet of «тяжёлый» ("grievous, weighty"), giving "the gravest offender" a solemn, almost juridical ring.

С другой стороны, не раз охватывала в эту ночь его душу какая-то необъяснимая и унизительная робость, от которой он — он это чувствовал — даже как бы терял вдруг физические силы.  
On the other hand, more than once that night his soul was overcome by a kind of inexplicable and humiliating timidity, from which he — he felt it — even seemed all at once to lose his physical strength.
> Object before subject again: The verb «охватывала» and object «душу» precede the subject «робость», which lands last as the new information. The grammatical subject is the timidity that "overcame his soul."
> Relative «которой» in genitive after «от»: «от которой» is «который» (agreeing feminine with «робость») put in the genitive by the preposition «от» — "from which." The inserted dash-clause «он это чувствовал» breaks in as the narrator's gloss.
> «робость» — timidity that humiliates: «робость» is shy, fearful timidity; «унизительная» (humiliating, degrading) marks it as something shameful to a proud man like Ivan. The pairing is psychologically pointed.

Голова его болела и кружилась.  
His head ached and swam.
> Reflexive «кружиться» of the spinning head: «кружилась» is the reflexive/middle «кружиться» (to spin, go round) — an intransitive change-of-state in -ся. The single subject «голова» governs both "ached" and "swam."

Что-то ненавистное щемило его душу, точно он собирался мстить кому.  
Something hateful gnawed at his soul, as though he were about to take revenge on someone.
> Comparative «точно» — "as though": «точно» here is not "exactly" but the comparative conjunction "as if, as though," introducing an unreal comparison. «кому» is a bare dative "to someone" (colloquial for «кому-то»), the object of «мстить» (to take revenge on).
> «щемить» — a gnawing ache: «щемить» names a dull, pinching, aching sensation, especially of the heart or soul. Used impersonally here — "something hateful gnawed at his soul" — it conveys an undefined inner pain.

Ненавидел он даже Алешу, вспоминая давешний с ним разговор, ненавидел очень минутами и себя.  
He hated even Alyosha, recalling the conversation he had had with him earlier that day; at moments he hated himself intensely as well.
> Verb-first repetition and reflexive «себя»: Each clause leads with the imperfective «Ненавидел» for emotional drumbeat, the subject «он» deferred. The object «себя» is the reflexive pronoun — he hated his own self.
> Imperfective gerund of cause: «вспоминая» ("recalling") is an imperfective gerund giving the simultaneous reason for the hatred. «давешний» is a folksy-archaic adjective meaning "of earlier today, recent."

О Катерине Ивановне он почти что и думать забыл и много этому потом удивлялся, тем более что сам твердо помнил, как еще вчера утром, когда он так размашисто похвалился у Катерины Ивановны, что завтра уедет в Москву, в душе своей тогда же шепнул про себя: «А ведь вздор, не поедешь, и не так тебе будет легко оторваться, как ты теперь фанфаронишь».  
Of Katerina Ivanovna he had almost forgotten even to think — something he marveled at greatly afterward, the more so since he himself remembered clearly how only yesterday morning, when he had boasted so grandly at Katerina Ivanovna's that he would leave for Moscow tomorrow, he had whispered to himself at that very moment, deep down: "But that's nonsense — you won't go, and it won't be so easy for you to tear yourself away as you're swaggering now."
> «забыл думать» plus dative object of «удивляться»: «думать забыл» = "forgot even to think." The later «много этому… удивлялся» pairs «удивляться» (to be amazed) with its dative object «этому» ("at this"), the verb's required government.
> Bookish connector «тем более что»: «тем более что» ("the more so since / especially as") is a literary subordinator introducing an intensifying reason. It threads the long sentence's logic of self-knowledge.
> Particle «ведь» and predictive imperfective future: Inside the remembered whisper, «ведь» appeals to what the speaker already knows ("why, after all"). «не поедешь» is the perfective future of «поехать» used as a flat prediction — "you won't go."
> «размашисто», «фанфаронить»: «размашисто» means "with a broad sweep, expansively, grandly." «фанфаронить» (from «фанфарон», a braggart) is "to swagger, show off, brag" — a borrowed, slightly comic word that Ivan turns on himself in self-mockery.

Припоминая потом долго спустя эту ночь, Иван Федорович с особенным отвращением вспоминал, как он вдруг, бывало, вставал с дивана и тихонько, как бы страшно боясь, чтобы не подглядели за ним, отворял двери, выходил на лестницу и слушал вниз, в нижние комнаты, как шевелился и похаживал там внизу Федор Павлович, — слушал подолгу, минут по пяти, со странным каким-то любопытством, затаив дух, и с биением сердца, а для чего он всё это проделывал, для чего слушал — конечно, и сам не знал.  
Recalling that night long afterward, Ivan Fyodorovich would remember with peculiar disgust how he suddenly, every so often, would get up from the sofa and softly, as though terribly afraid of being spied upon, open the door, go out onto the stairs, and listen down into the lower rooms — listen to Fyodor Pavlovich stirring and pacing about down below — listen for a long while, five minutes at a stretch, with a strange sort of curiosity, holding his breath, his heart pounding; and why he kept doing all this, why he was listening, he himself, of course, did not know.
> Opening gerund frames the recollection: The whole long sentence is launched by the imperfective gerund «Припоминая» ("recalling"), establishing the later vantage point from which Ivan replays the night. «долго спустя» = "long afterward."
> Iterative «бывало» with a chain of imperfectives: «бывало» is the narrative particle marking a recurring past habit — "every so often, he would…" The string of imperfectives «вставал, отворял, выходил, слушал» are all repeated, habitual acts, not single events.
> Negative purpose with «чтобы… не»: «боясь» is an imperfective gerund ("being afraid"); «чтобы… не подглядели» is a negative purpose clause — fearing "lest he be spied on." «чтобы» takes the past-form verb «подглядели», the irrealis it always governs. «как бы» softens it to "as though."
> Perfective gerund idiom «затаив дух»: «затаив» is a perfective past gerund of «затаить» (to hold in, suppress); «затаив дух» = "holding one's breath." The completed gerund frames the prior, set state during which he listened.
> Distributive «по пяти» — five at a stretch: «по пяти» with «минут» is the distributive «по» construction: "in stretches of five minutes each." The archaic dative «пяти» (rather than «пять») is the older norm Dostoevsky uses.

Этот «поступок» он всю жизнь свою потом называл «мерзким» и всю жизнь свою считал, глубоко про себя, в тайниках души своей, самым подлым поступком изо всей своей жизни.  
That "act" he would all his life afterward call "vile," and all his life he reckoned it, deep within himself, in the innermost recesses of his soul, the basest act of his whole life.
> Instrumental complements of «называл» and «считал»: Both «называл» (called) and «считал» (reckoned) take a predicate in the instrumental: «(поступок) мерзким», «самым подлым поступком». Naming and judging "as something" puts that something in the instrumental.
> Superlative «самый» plus reflexive «свой»: «самым подлым» is the periphrastic superlative, «самый» declining with the adjective in the instrumental. «изо всей своей жизни» ("out of his whole life") uses the reflexive «свой» pointing back to Ivan.
> «тайники души» — the soul's hidden recesses: «тайник» is a hidden place, a cache; «в тайниках души» is a set literary phrase, "in the secret recesses of the soul." The postposed «своей» (reflexive possessive) gives it a grave, inward cadence.

К самому же Федору Павловичу он не чувствовал в те минуты никакой даже ненависти, а лишь любопытствовал почему-то изо всех сил: как он там внизу ходит, что он примерно там у себя теперь должен делать, предугадывал и соображал, как он должен был там внизу заглядывать в темные окна и вдруг останавливаться среди комнаты и ждать, ждать — не стучит ли кто.  
Toward Fyodor Pavlovich himself, in those moments, he felt no hatred whatever — he was merely, for some reason, curious with all his might: how was he moving about down there, what could he be doing now in his rooms, and he tried to guess and picture how the old man must be peering into the dark windows down below, then suddenly stopping in the middle of the room and waiting, waiting — to see whether anyone would knock.
> Negative concord with genitive of negation: «не чувствовал никакой… ненависти» pairs «не» with the negative «никакой» and puts the object «ненависти» in the genitive of negation — "felt no hatred whatever." Russian's triple-marked negation again.
> Chained imperfectives of imagining: «предугадывал» (kept guessing in advance) and «соображал» are imperfectives of an ongoing mental effort, leading into indirect questions «как он… ходит… должен делать… заглядывать». The whole is Ivan's mind projecting the scene below.
> Embedded «ли»-question of suspense: «не стучит ли кто» is an indirect yes/no question with «ли» — "whether anyone was knocking." The doubled infinitive «ждать, ждать» mimics the old man's endless straining for the signal.

Выходил Иван Федорович для этого занятия на лестницу раза два.  
Twice Ivan Fyodorovich went out onto the stairs for this occupation.
> Iterative imperfective and «раза два»: «Выходил» is the imperfective for a repeated act; «раза два» ("a couple of times") confirms the iteration, with genitive singular «раза» after «два» and inversion for approximation.
> Ironic «занятие» — "occupation": «занятие» normally means a worthy occupation or pursuit. Applied to Ivan's furtive eavesdropping, it is dryly ironic — dignifying a shameful act with a respectable noun.

Когда всё затихло и уже улегся и Федор Павлович, часов около двух, улегся и Иван Федорович с твердым желанием поскорее заснуть, так как чувствовал себя страшно измученным.  
When everything had fallen quiet and Fyodor Pavlovich too had at last lain down, around two o'clock, Ivan Fyodorovich also lay down, firmly resolved to fall asleep as quickly as possible, since he felt himself terribly worn out.
> Perfective verbs sequencing the quiet: «затихло» and the repeated «улегся» (from «улечься», to lie down/settle) are perfectives marking discrete completed events — everything fell still, first the father settled, then Ivan. The repetition of «улегся» links the two men in the same act.
> Instrumental of manner «с… желанием»: «с твердым желанием» ("with a firm desire") is the instrumental after «с» of accompaniment, framing the resolve with which he lay down; «поскорее» is the comparative "as soon as possible."

И впрямь: заснул он вдруг крепко и спал без снов, но проснулся рано, часов в семь, когда уже рассвело.  
And so indeed he did: he fell asleep all at once, soundly, and slept without dreams, but woke early, around seven o'clock, when day had already broken.
> Perfectives for the night's events: «заснул», «проснулся», and impersonal «рассвело» (from «рассвести», to grow light) are all perfectives, each a single completed turn — fell asleep, woke, day broke. «рассвело» is a subjectless weather/light impersonal.
> «И впрямь» again — "and sure enough": The colloquial confirming phrase "and indeed, sure enough" opens the sentence, the narrator's own folksy voice closing the loop on Ivan's resolve to sleep.

Раскрыв глаза, к изумлению своему, он вдруг почувствовал в себе прилив какой-то необычайной энергии, быстро вскочил и быстро оделся, затем вытащил свой чемодан и, не медля, поспешно начал его укладывать.  
Opening his eyes, he suddenly felt within himself, to his own astonishment, a surge of some extraordinary energy; he sprang up quickly and dressed quickly, then dragged out his trunk and, without delay, began hurriedly packing it.
> Perfective gerund opening a burst of action: «Раскрыв» (perfective gerund, "having opened his eyes") sets off a rapid chain of perfectives — «вскочил, оделся, вытащил, начал» — driving the story forward event by event, the energetic counterpart to the night's brooding imperfectives.
> Set phrase «к изумлению своему»: «к изумлению» uses «к» plus the dative in the idiom "to one's astonishment"; the postposed reflexive «своему» ("his own") is a bookish ordering. Russian builds many such к + dative reaction-phrases (к счастью, к ужасу).
> «не медля» — "without delay": A fossilized negated gerund of «медлить» (to tarry), now read as an adverbial phrase "without dawdling, at once." It reinforces the suddenness of his packing.

Белье как раз еще вчера утром получилось всё от прачки.  
His linen, as it happened, had all come back from the laundress only yesterday morning.
> Reflexive «получилось» as middle/passive: «получилось» (reflexive of «получить») works as a middle-voice "came/was received" — the linen "had come back" of itself. «от прачки» ("from the laundress") is genitive after «от».
> «прачка» — the laundress: A «прачка» is a washerwoman who took in laundry — a small domestic-economy detail anchoring the household's routines, and a comic touch in how neatly fate has cleared Ivan's path.

Иван Федорович даже усмехнулся при мысли, что так всё оно сошлось, что нет никакой задержки внезапному отъезду.  
Ivan Fyodorovich even smiled at the thought that everything had fallen out so neatly, that there was nothing to hold up his sudden departure.
> «нет» + genitive subject, dative of relation: «нет никакой задержки» is a negated existential: the absent thing «задержки» (delay) stands in the genitive after «нет», with «никакой» for emphasis. «внезапному отъезду» is the dative — nothing to hold up "the sudden departure."
> Reflexive perfectives «усмехнулся», «сошлось»: «усмехнулся» (gave a smile, smirked) and «сошлось» (came together, fell out) are reflexive perfectives in -ся; «сошлось» is the impersonal middle "it all worked out" — circumstances converging of themselves.

А отъезд выходил действительно внезапный.  
And his departure really was turning out to be a sudden one.
> «а» reopening the topic; «выходил» = "turned out": «А» here is the topic-shifting "and, now" reopening the matter of the departure. «выходил» imperfectively means "was turning out to be," with the predicate adjective «внезапный» in the nominative.

Хотя Иван Федорович и говорил вчера (Катерине Ивановне, Алеше и потом Смердякову), что завтра уедет, но, ложась вчера спать, он очень хорошо помнил, что в ту минуту и не думал об отъезде, по крайней мере совсем не мыслил, что, поутру проснувшись, первым движением бросится укладывать чемодан.  
Although Ivan Fyodorovich had said yesterday (to Katerina Ivanovna, to Alyosha, and then to Smerdyakov) that he would leave tomorrow, yet when he had gone to bed the night before, he remembered very well that at that moment he had not even been thinking of leaving — or at least had had no idea whatever that, waking in the morning, his very first move would be to rush to pack his trunk.
> Concessive «хотя… и» with reported future: «Хотя… и» is the concessive "although" reinforced by «и» ("even, did"). The reported speech keeps its original tense: «завтра уедет» — perfective future "he would leave tomorrow," Russian not back-shifting tense as English does.
> Imperfective gerund «ложась»: «ложась… спать» is the imperfective gerund of «ложиться» — "as he was lying down to sleep." The imperfective gerund fixes the moment within which the remembering happened.
> Gerund + instrumental of manner + perfective future: «проснувшись» is a perfective gerund ("on waking"); «первым движением» is an instrumental of manner ("as his first move"); «бросится» is the perfective future of «броситься» (to rush) in reported thought. «поутру» is an archaic-folksy "in the morning."

Наконец чемодан и сак были готовы: было уже около девяти часов, когда Марфа Игнатьевна взошла к нему с обычным ежедневным вопросом: «Где изволите чай кушать, у себя аль сойдете вниз?» Иван Федорович сошел вниз, вид имел почти что веселый, хотя было в нем, в словах и в жестах его, нечто как бы раскидывающееся и торопливое.  
At last the trunk and the bag were ready: it was already getting on toward nine o'clock when Marfa Ignatyevna came up to him with her usual daily question: "Where will you be pleased to take your tea — in your room, or will you come down?" Ivan Fyodorovich came down, his look almost cheerful, though there was about him, in his words and gestures, something as it were scattered and hurried.
> Prefixed motion verb «взошла»: «взошла» is the perfective prefixed motion verb «взойти» (вз- "up" + -йти), "came up, ascended" — she climbed up to his attic room. The prefix supplies both direction and perfective aspect.
> Deferential «изволите», folksy «кушать», «аль»: «изволите» ("will you be pleased to") is the servant's deferential auxiliary; «кушать» is the polite-folksy verb for eating/drinking used to a master; «аль» is a rustic «или» ("or"). The whole line paints Marfa Ignatyevna's humble, old-fashioned speech.

Приветливо поздоровавшись с отцом и даже особенно наведавшись о здоровье, он, не дождавшись, впрочем, окончания ответа родителя, разом объявил, что чрез час уезжает в Москву, совсем, и просит послать за лошадьми.  
Having greeted his father amiably and even asked after his health with particular attention, he announced, without however waiting for his parent to finish answering, all at once that within the hour he was leaving for Moscow, for good, and asked that the horses be sent for.
> Two perfective gerunds of prior courtesy: «поздоровавшись» (having greeted) and «наведавшись» (having inquired) are perfective past gerunds chaining the completed civilities before the main verb «объявил». «наведаться о здоровье» = "to ask after one's health."
> Negated gerund + genitive object: «не дождавшись окончания» is a negated perfective gerund — "without waiting for the end." «дождаться» governs the genitive «окончания ответа», and negation reinforces it: he cut his father off.
> «послать за» + instrumental: «послать за лошадьми» — "to send for the horses" — uses «за» plus the instrumental to mean "to fetch." «лошадьми» is the instrumental plural of «лошадь».

Старик выслушал сообщение без малейшего удивления, пренеприлично позабыв поскорбеть об отъезде сынка; вместо того вдруг чрезвычайно захлопотал, вспомнив как раз кстати одно насущное собственное дело.  
The old man heard the news without the slightest surprise, and, with marked impropriety, quite forgot to grieve over his little son's departure; instead he suddenly fell into an extraordinary bustle, having recalled, just in the nick of time, a pressing piece of business of his own.
> Perfective gerunds with the intensive «пре-»: «позабыв» and «вспомнив» are perfective gerunds ("having forgotten," "having recalled"). The adverb «пренеприлично» carries the superlative prefix «пре-» ("most-, exceedingly"), a favourite Dostoevskian intensifier — "most improperly."
> «захлопотать», «насущный»: «захлопотать» (за- inceptive) means "to start bustling/fussing about." «насущный» — "vital, of daily necessity" — famously the word for "daily" bread in the Lord's Prayer (хлеб насущный), here applied with comic deflation to his timber deal.

— Ах ты!  
"Ah, you!
> Exclamation «Ах ты!»: A bare interjection of surprise or mock-reproach — "Ah, you!" — left grammatically incomplete, as exclamations are. Typical of Fyodor Pavlovich's bouncing, theatrical speech.

Экой!  
What a fellow!
> «Экой!» — "What a fellow!": «экой» (variant of «эдакой / какой») is a colloquial exclamatory "what a…!," expressing amazement at someone's behavior. Standing alone it means roughly "well, what a one you are!"

Не сказал вчера… ну да всё равно и сейчас уладим.  
You didn't say so yesterday… well, never mind, we'll settle it now too.
> Perfective future «уладим»: «уладим» is the perfective future of «уладить» (to settle, arrange) — "we'll sort it out." The conjugated perfective gives a confident, single-completed-action sense; «сейчас» means "right now."

Сделай ты мне милость великую, отец ты мой родной, заезжай в Чермашню.  
Do me a great kindness, my own dear boy — stop off at Chermashnya.
> Two imperatives, perfective and imperfective: «Сделай» (perfective, "do me") asks for one act; «заезжай» (imperfective imperative of «заезжать») invites him to drop in. «в Чермашню» is accusative of motion-toward after «в».
> Wheedling address «отец ты мой родной»: Literally "you my own dear father," but here flung from father to son as cajoling endearment — a folksy term of affection inverting the relationship to coax Ivan. The intrusive «ты» heightens the buttonholing tone.

Ведь тебе с Воловьей станции всего только влево свернуть, всего двенадцать каких-нибудь версточек, и вот она, Чермашня.  
Why, from the Volovya station you've only to turn left, a mere dozen versts or so, and there it is — Chermashnya."
> Dative + infinitive of "you've only to": «тебе… свернуть» is the dative-plus-infinitive of obligation/possibility — "you have only to turn off." The dative «тебе» names the one for whom it's an easy matter; «влево» is "to the left."
> Diminutive «версточки» minimizing the distance: «версточек» is a coaxing double-diminutive of «верста» — "a mere dozen little versts." The diminutive shrinks the journey to nothing; «каких-нибудь» ("some… or so") adds the breezy "a mere."

— Помилуйте, не могу: до железной дороги восемьдесят верст, а машина уходит со станции в Москву в семь часов вечера — ровно только, чтоб поспеть.  
"For pity's sake, I can't: it's eighty versts to the railway, and the train leaves the station for Moscow at seven in the evening — just exactly time enough to catch it."
> «Помилуйте» — "for pity's sake, come now": Imperative of «помиловать» (to have mercy), frozen as a polite-vehement interjection of protest — "for heaven's sake, I beg you." Ivan uses it to wave off the request.

— Поспеешь завтра, не то послезавтра, а сегодня сверни в Чермашню.  
"You'll catch it tomorrow, or the day after — but today turn off to Chermashnya.
> Perfective future «поспеешь» and «не то»: «поспеешь» is the perfective future of «поспеть» (to be in time) — "you'll make it." «не то» is colloquial "or else, if not" linking the alternative day. «послезавтра» = "the day after tomorrow."
> Perfective imperative «сверни»: «сверни» (perfective imperative of «свернуть», to turn off) urges one decisive act — "turn off [today]." The perfective command suits a single, concrete deed.

Чего тебе стоит родителя успокоить!  
What does it cost you to set your father's mind at ease!
> Genitive «чего» + dative + infinitive: «Чего тебе стоит… успокоить» — "what does it cost you to set [him] at ease!" «Чего» is genitive of «что» after «стоить»; «тебе» is the dative experiencer; «родителя» is the animate accusative object of the infinitive.

Если бы здесь не дело, я сам давно слетал бы, потому что штука-то там спешная и чрезвычайная, а здесь у меня время теперь не такое…  
If I weren't tied up with business here, I'd have dashed over long ago myself, because the matter there is urgent and pressing, but just now my time isn't my own…
> Counterfactual «бы» with elided verb: A contrary-to-fact conditional: «Если бы здесь не дело [было]…, я… слетал бы» — "if it weren't for business here, I'd have dashed over." The protasis verb is elided; «бы» does the irrealis work in both halves.
> «слетать», «штука», emphatic «-то»: «слетал бы» — colloquial "I'd have flown/dashed over" (a round-trip motion verb used figuratively). «штука» is informal "thing, business, matter"; the clitic «-то» on «штука-то» topicalizes it — "the business, you see."

Видишь, там эта роща моя, в двух участках, в Бегичеве да в Дячкине, в пустошах.  
You see, there's that copse of mine over there, on two plots, at Begichevo and at Dyachkino, on the wastelands.
> Verbless possessive and «два» + genitive: «эта роща моя» is a zero-copula present ("that copse [is] mine"), the predicate possessive «моя» in the nominative. «в двух участках» — «два» governs the noun, here in the prepositional plural after «в».
> «роща», «пустошь»: «роща» is a copse or small wood (the timber he wants to sell); «пустошь» is uncultivated wasteland or fallow ground. Together they sketch the rural property at the heart of the deal.

Масловы, старик с сыном, купцы, всего восемь тысяч дают на сруб, а всего только прошлого года покупщик нарывался, так двенадцать давал, да не здешний, вот где черта.  
The Maslovs — the old man and his son, the merchants — are offering only eight thousand for the timber, and only last year a buyer turned up who'd give twelve, but he wasn't a local man, and there's the rub.
> Numerals governing «тысяча» and aspect of offers: «восемь тысяч» takes the genitive plural «тысяч» (after 5+), while «дают» (imperfective present) describes a standing offer. «давал» (imperfective past) frames last year's offer as an ongoing willingness, not a closed deal.
> «на сруб», «нарываться»: «на сруб» means "for felling" — the timber priced to be cut. «нарывался» (from «нарываться») colloquially means "a buyer kept turning up / pressing forward." «покупщик» is an old word for «покупатель» (buyer).
> Idiom «вот где черта» — "there's the rub": «черта» here is "the catch, the snag, the point" (literally a line/feature). «вот где черта» = "that's just where the trouble lies" — a tic Fyodor Pavlovich repeats through the bargaining.

Потому у здешних теперь сбыту нет: кулачат Масловы — отец с сыном, стотысячники: что положат, то и бери, а из здешних никто и не смеет против них тягаться.  
Because the local men have no market now: the Maslovs throw their weight around — father and son, men worth a hundred thousand — they set the price and you take it, and not one of the locals dares to bid against them.
> Correlative «что… то» with imperative: «что положат, то и бери» — "whatever they set, that you take." A free-relative correlative: «что» (perfective future «положат», "they'll set") answered by «то и бери» (imperfective imperative), the «и» emphatic.
> Negative concord «никто… не»: «никто… не смеет» pairs the negative pronoun «никто» with «не» on the verb — "no one dares." «тягаться» (to vie, contend with) is reflexive; «против них» ("against them") takes the genitive after «против».
> «кулачить», «стотысячник»: «кулачить» — to bully, throw one's weight around like a «кулак» (a grasping rich peasant/profiteer). «стотысячник» is "a man worth a hundred thousand," a coinage for the wealthy Maslovs. Both words drip with Fyodor Pavlovich's grudging contempt.

А Ильинский батюшка вдруг отписал сюда в прошлый четверг, что приехал Горсткин, тоже купчишка, знаю я его, только драгоценность-то в том, что не здешний, а из Погребова, значит, не боится он Масловых, потому не здешний.  
But the Ilyinsky priest suddenly wrote here last Thursday that Gorstkin had arrived — a petty trader too, I know him — only the precious thing about it is that he's not a local man but from Pogrebovo, which means he's not afraid of the Maslovs, because he's not from here.
> Topic clitic «-то» and «в том, что»: «драгоценность-то» carries the emphatic «-то» highlighting the known topic — "the precious thing, you see." «в том, что…» is the standard "[lies] in this, that…" frame introducing the explanatory clause.
> «бояться» + genitive object: «бояться» (a -ся verb meaning "to fear") governs the genitive: «боится… Масловых» — "he's not afraid of the Maslovs." Verbs of fearing and avoiding take the genitive in Russian.
> Pejorative «купчишка» — a petty trader: «купчишка» is «купец» (merchant) with the contemptuous diminutive «-ишк-», belittling Gorstkin to "a wretched little dealer." The suffix is pure disdain, not size.

Одиннадцать тысяч, говорит, за рощу дам, слышишь?  
Eleven thousand, he says, I'll give for the copse — do you hear?
> Quoted offer: perfective future «дам»: Inside the reported speech, «дам» is the perfective future of «дать» (to give) — "I'll give." «за рощу» ("for the copse") uses «за» + accusative of price/exchange. «слышишь?» tags it with an insistent "do you hear?"

А пробудет он здесь, пишет батюшка, еще-то всего лишь неделю.  
And he'll only be here, the priest writes, another week all told.
> Perfective future «пробудет» of bounded duration: «пробудет» is the perfective future of «пробыть» (про- = "through a span"), "he'll stay [for the whole of]" — a duration viewed as a completed whole. «неделю» is the accusative of time-extent ("for a week").
> Parenthetical inversion «пишет батюшка»: The reporting clause «пишет батюшка» ("writes the priest") is dropped into the middle with verb before subject, the standard Russian framing of quoted/relayed speech.

Так вот бы ты поехал, да с ним и сговорился…  
So if you'd go over and come to terms with him…"
> Optative «бы» — "if only you'd go": «бы ты поехал… сговорился» is the wishing/suggesting use of «бы» with past-form verbs — "so you might go and come to terms." Here «бы» softens a request into a hopeful suggestion. «сговориться» is reflexive — "to reach an agreement."

— Так вы напишите батюшке, тот и сговорится.  
"Then write to the priest, and he'll come to terms."
> Imperative + correlative «тот»: «напишите» is the polite/plural perfective imperative ("write [to him]"); «тот и сговорится» uses the demonstrative «тот» ("that one, he") to point back to the priest, with the future reflexive «сговорится» — "and he'll come to terms."

— Не умеет он, тут штука.  
"He can't do it — that's the trouble.
> Negated «уметь» and verbless «тут штука»: «Не умеет он» — "he can't [do it]," «уметь» being "to know how." «тут штука» is a clipped verbless idiom — "there's the trouble / that's the catch," «штука» again colloquial for "the thing of it."

Этот батюшка смотреть не умеет.  
That priest hasn't an eye for it.
> Infinitive + «не умеет» idiom: «смотреть не умеет» — literally "doesn't know how to look," i.e. has no eye for a bargain, can't appraise. The fronted infinitive «смотреть» throws the focus onto the skill he lacks.

Золото человек, я ему сейчас двадцать тысяч вручу без расписки на сохранение, а смотреть ничего не умеет, как бы и не человек вовсе, ворона обманет.  
A heart of gold, the man — I'd hand him twenty thousand this minute without a receipt, to keep for me — but he hasn't an eye for anything, it's as if he weren't a man at all; a crow could cheat him.
> Dative recipient with perfective future «вручу»: «вручу» is the perfective future of «вручить» (to hand over). The recipient «ему» stands in the dative — the indirect object "to him" — and «двадцать тысяч» (genitive plural «тысяч») is the thing handed.
> Hypothetical «как бы… не» and emphatic word order: «как бы и не человек вовсе» — "as though he weren't even a man at all," «как бы» framing the unreal comparison. In «ворона обманет», «ворона» (a crow) is the nominative subject of «обманет», with the object 'him' (его) elided — stressing the absurdity — "a crow could cheat him."
> «золото человек», «расписка», «на сохранение»: «Золото человек» — "a heart of gold" (lit. "a gold of a man"), the noun «золото» used predicatively. «расписка» is a written receipt/IOU; «на сохранение» means "for safekeeping." The idiom paints the priest as utterly trustworthy yet hopelessly unworldly.

А ведь ученый человек, представь себе это.  
And yet he's an educated man, just imagine.
> Particle «ведь» and imperative «представь себе»: «ведь» appeals to shared astonishment — "and yet, after all, an educated man." «представь себе» is the perfective imperative "just imagine," with the reflexive «себе» (dative) in the set phrase "picture to yourself."

Этот Горсткин на вид мужик, в синей поддевке, только характером он совершенный подлец, в этом-то и беда наша общая: он лжет, вот черта.  
This Gorstkin looks like a peasant, in a blue full-skirted coat, only in character he's a thorough scoundrel — and that's just where the trouble lies for all of us: he lies, that's the rub.
> Instrumental of respect «характером»: «на вид» ("to look at, in appearance") contrasts with «характером» — the instrumental of respect, "in character, as to character." The instrumental specifies the dimension along which Gorstkin is a scoundrel, against his peasant looks.
> Emphatic «-то» and «вот» closing the point: «в этом-то и беда» — the clitic «-то» plus «и» pin the emphasis: "that's exactly where the trouble lies." «вот черта» echoes his refrain ("there's the snag"), framing the whole speech's rhythm of catches and rubs.

Иной раз так налжет, что только дивишься, зачем это он.  
Sometimes he tells such lies you can only wonder what on earth he's at.
> «иной раз» — 'sometimes': A folksy set phrase, literally 'another time / on occasion'. «иной» is the bookish-archaic 'other, some', here colloquialized into the simple adverbial 'now and then'.
> Perfective future «налжёт»: From perfective «налгать» ('to tell a pile of lies'), the present-tense ending gives future-completed meaning — 'he'll go and lie so'. The prefix «на-» adds a sense of accumulated quantity, 'lie up a heap'.
> Result clause with «что»: «так … что» frames a consequence — 'lies so [much] that you can only wonder'. The 2nd-person singular «дивишься» is generic 'one', a common impersonal use of the «ты» form in spoken Russian.

Налгал третьего года, что жена у него умерла и что он уже женат на другой, и ничего этого не было, представь себе: никогда жена его не умирала, живет и теперь и его бьет каждые три дня по разу.  
Two years ago he lied that his wife had died and that he'd already married another, and none of it was so, just imagine: his wife never died at all, she's alive even now and gives him a thrashing once every three days.
> «третьего года» — 'the year before last': A fixed genitive time-phrase, literally 'in the third year [back]', i.e. two years ago. Compare the still-current «третьего дня», 'the day before yesterday'.
> Short adjective «женат»: «женат» ('married', of a man) is the predicative short form, used only after a copula to state a state. «на другой» is prepositional after «на» — Russian marries 'on' a woman.
> Imperative + reflexive «себе»: «представь» is the singular imperative of «представить»; the dative reflexive «себе» ('to yourself') makes the idiom 'just imagine'. The form is intimate «ты», fitting a father to his son.
> Negative concord with «никогда»: 'His wife never died at all' stacks «никогда» ('never') with the obligatory «не» on the verb — Russian requires the negative particle even when a negative adverb is present.
> «каждые три дня по разу»: The distributive «по» + «разу» means 'once apiece' over each interval — 'once every three days'. «разу» here is the partitive-flavoured form of «раз». The detail that the wife beats him is pure Dostoevskian grotesque comedy.

Так вот и теперь надо узнать: лжет аль правду говорит, что хочет купить и одиннадцать тысяч дать?  
So now too one has to find out whether he's lying or telling the truth when he says he wants to buy and will give eleven thousand."
> Folk disjunctive «аль»: «аль» is a peasant, archaic variant of «или» ('or'), marking Fyodor Pavlovich's deliberately coarse, folksy speech. The pair 'lies or tells the truth' sets up the embedded yes/no question.
> Numeral + genitive plural «тысяч»: After «одиннадцать» ('eleven', 5-and-up) the counted noun takes the genitive plural «тысяч». «дать» is the perfective infinitive under «хочет», stating the completed intent to hand over the sum.

— Так ведь и я тут ничего не сделаю, у меня тоже глазу нет.  
"But I can do nothing about it either — I've no eye for it myself."
> Particle «ведь»: «ведь» appeals to shared knowledge — 'but you see / after all'. Here it softens Ivan's refusal into 'I can do nothing about it either, you know'.
> Genitive of negation: «глазу нет»: Existential «нет» forces its subject into the genitive — «глазу» (here the old genitive-partitive of «глаз») 'there is no eye [for it]'. The «у меня» possessive frames it as 'I haven't the eye'.

— Стой, подожди, годишься и ты, потому я тебе все приметы его сообщу, Горсткина-то, я с ним дела уже давно имею.  
"Stop, wait — you'll do, you will, because I'll tell you all his marks, Gorstkin's, I've had dealings with him a long time now.
> Stacked imperatives: Two commands in a row: «Стой» ('stop', from «стоять») and «подожди» ('wait', perfective «подождать»). The imperfective «стой» holds a state, the perfective «подожди» asks for one completed act of waiting.
> Reflexive «годишься» + emphatic «и»: «годиться» ('to be of use, do') exists only in the reflexive -ся form. «и ты» here is emphatic 'you too will do' — «и» before a word means 'even / also'.
> Topic-clitic «-то»: The hyphenated «-то» pins down a known topic — 'Gorstkin, that is', circling back to clarify whose 'marks' he'll describe. Note the animate accusative «Горсткина» (= genitive form).
> «приметы» — distinguishing marks: «примета» is a recognisable sign or trait by which one knows a person (or, in folk belief, an omen). 'I'll tell you all his marks' — the tells that betray the man.

Видишь: ему на бороду надо глядеть; бороденка у него рыженькая, гаденькая, тоненькая.  
See: you have to watch his beard; his beard is a little reddish thing, mean and thin.
> Dative + «надо» impersonal: An impersonal necessity construction: dative «ему» ('for him', i.e. about him) plus invariable «надо» plus infinitive — 'one must watch his beard'. No nominative subject at all.
> Pejorative diminutive cascade: «бороденка» (contemptuous diminutive of «борода») plus three -еньк- diminutives — 'reddish, nasty-little, thin-little' — drip scorn onto Gorstkin's beard. The suffixes carry derision, not smallness.

Коли бороденка трясется, а сам он говорит да сердится — значит ладно, правду говорит, хочет дело делать; а коли бороду гладит левою рукой, а сам посмеивается — ну, значит надуть хочет, плутует.  
If the beard trembles while he talks and works himself up — well and good, he's telling the truth, he means business; but if he strokes his beard with his left hand and chuckles to himself — then it means he wants to swindle you, he's playing tricks.
> Folk conditional «коли»: «коли» is the peasant-archaic 'if' (= «если»), pairing with «значит» ('then it means') to build the omen-reading. Both halves run in the imperfective present for a general rule.
> Instrumental of means «левою рукой»: 'Strokes the beard with his left hand' — the tool of the action goes in the instrumental. «левою» is the older long -ою feminine instrumental ending (modern «левой»), a 19th-century literary flavour.
> Reflexive iterative «посмеивается»: From «посмеиваться» ('to chuckle, smirk now and then'), a -ся verb whose «по-…-ива-» pattern paints a low, intermittent action — exactly the sly chuckling that signals a swindle.
> «надуть», «плутовать» — to cheat: «надуть» (literally 'to inflate') is slangy 'to dupe, take in'; «плутовать» is 'to cheat, play the rogue', from «плут» ('rogue'). A pair of low-register words for swindling.

В глаза ему никогда не гляди, по глазам ничего не разберешь, темна вода, плут, — гляди на бороду.  
Never look him in the eyes — you'll make out nothing by his eyes, murky water, the rogue — watch the beard.
> Negated imperfective imperative: A negative command uses the imperfective: «не гляди» ('don't look') — the imperfective is the default for prohibitions. «никогда … не» again shows negative concord, 'never look'.
> «по» + dative; generic «ты»: «по глазам» ('by his eyes', dative after «по») plus «ничего … не разберёшь» — generic 2nd-person 'you'll make nothing out'. Two negatives, «ничего» and «не», stand for one.
> «темна вода» — 'murky water': A biblical-sounding idiom for the unfathomable (from Psalm 17:12, «темна вода во облацех»). Here clipped to mean Gorstkin is opaque, unreadable. «темна» is the short-form adjective.

Я тебе к нему записку дам, а ты покажи.  
I'll give you a note to him, and you show it.
> Two datives: «тебе», «к нему»: «тебе» is the indirect object ('to you'), while «к нему» ('to him', «к» + dative) marks direction. Free word order lets the heavy 'note' fall last as the new information.
> «записка» — a note: A small written note or chit. The diminutive-shaped «-ка» here is lexicalized (no longer felt as 'little'); Fyodor Pavlovich will 'scribble' one as a letter of introduction.

Он Горсткин, только он не Горсткин, а Лягавый, так ты ему не говори, что он Лягавый, обидится.  
He's Gorstkin, only he isn't Gorstkin but Lyagavy — but don't you tell him he's Lyagavy, he'll take offense.
> Discourse «так» + negative imperative: Sentence-initial «так» here is a loose connective 'so, mind you'. «не говори» is the imperfective negative command, 'don't [you] tell him'. The pronoun «ты» is added for pointed emphasis.
> Reflexive perfective future «обидится»: From «обидеться» ('to take offence'), a -ся verb. Its present-form ending is perfective future — 'he'll take offence'. The -ся marks the inward, self-directed state.

Коли сговоришься с ним и увидишь, что ладно, тотчас и отпиши сюда.  
If you come to terms with him and see it's all right, write here at once.
> Conditional + perfective command: Folk «коли» ('if') with two perfective futures/commands: «сговоришься» ('you'll come to terms', reflexive) and the imperative «отпиши» ('write back at once'). Perfective stresses each act as a single completed deal.
> «ладно» — 'all right, in order': A colloquial 'fine, well and good'. Here predicative — 'see that it's all right [a settled deal]'. One of the threads of plain peasant idiom in Fyodor Pavlovich's mouth.

Только это и напиши: «Не лжет, дескать».  
Just write this and no more: 'He's not lying.'
> Restrictive «только … и»: The frame «только … и» means 'only this and nothing else' — 'just write this and no more'. «напиши» is the perfective imperative, one finished act of writing.
> Reportative particle «дескать»: «дескать» flags reported or quoted speech with a shade of detachment — 'as it were, [he says]'. Built into the message it lets Fyodor dictate the exact words 'He's not lying, see'.

Стой на одиннадцати, одну тысячку можешь спустить, больше не спускай.  
Hold out for eleven; you may come down one thousand, no more.
> «на» + prepositional «одиннадцати»: 'Hold out at eleven' — the numeral declines: «одиннадцати» is the prepositional after «на». Russian numbers above 'one' inflect through the cases like nouns.
> «тысячку», «спустить»: «тысячку» is the affectionate diminutive of «тысяча» ('a little thousand'), softening the haggling. «спустить» here is trade slang 'to drop [the price], let go a thousand'.

Подумай: восемь и одиннадцать — три тысячи разницы.  
Just think: eight and eleven — three thousand difference.
> Perfective imperative «подумай»: 'Just think!' — a single, pointed act of reflection, so the perfective «подумать». The bare «ты» imperative keeps the intimate, urging tone.
> Genitive «разницы»: 'Three thousand of difference' — the quantified noun «разницы» stands in the genitive of measure. The whole sum «три тысячи» is itself the genitive-singular-after-«три» construction.

Эти я три тысячи ровно как нашел, скоро ли покупщика достанешь, а деньги до зарезу нужны.  
Those three thousand are as good as found for me — when will you ever get a buyer, and I need the money desperately.
> Fronted object «эти … три тысячи»: The object is split and thrown to the front for emphasis — 'these three thousand, I [count them] as good as found'. Free case-marked order lets the topic lead while «я» nestles inside.
> Interrogative particle «ли»: «скоро ли … достанешь» fronts «скоро» and tags «ли» — a rhetorical 'how soon will you ever get [a buyer]?'. «покупщика» is the animate accusative (= genitive form).
> «до зарезу» — desperately: A vivid idiom, literally 'to the point of cutting [one's throat]', meaning 'urgently, desperately'. «деньги до зарезу нужны» — 'I need the money like life itself'.

Дашь знать, что серьезно, тогда я сам уж отсюда слетаю и кончу, как-нибудь урву время.  
Let me know it's serious, and then I'll dash over there myself and finish it off — I'll snatch the time somehow.
> Intensifier «сам» + perfective «слетаю»: «сам» ('myself, in person') stresses Fyodor's personal involvement. «слетаю» (perfective of «слетать», 'to make a quick round trip, dash there and back') is future here — 'I'll fly over there myself'. The particle «уж» adds resolve.
> «урвать время» — to snatch time: «урвать» is 'to tear off, grab a piece' — 'I'll snatch the time somehow'. «как-нибудь» ('any old way') pairs the indefinite -нибудь with the grabbing for a hurried, makeshift feel.

А теперь чего я туда поскачу, если всё это батька выдумал?  
But what's the use of my galloping over there now, if your dad's made the whole thing up?
> Rhetorical «чего» + perfective future: Colloquial «чего» ('what for, why') opens a rhetorical question; «поскачу» (perfective «поскакать», 'to gallop off') is future, 'why would I go galloping there'. The whole is dismissive.
> Conditional «если» + perfective past: A real conditional with «если» and the perfective past «выдумал» ('made up, invented') — 'if dad has invented the whole thing'. Perfective marks the fabrication as an accomplished fact.
> «батька» — 'dad, the old man': A rough, folksy word for father (cf. «батюшка», «отец»). Ivan uses it scornfully of Fyodor Pavlovich — the casual, almost contemptuous register sharpens the contempt under his question.

Ну, едешь или нет?  
Well, are you going or not?"
> Imperfective present «едешь» for a plan: The unidirectional motion verb «ехать» in the present, «едешь», asks about an arranged near-future journey — 'are you going [by vehicle] or not?'. Russian uses the present for settled near plans.

— Э, некогда, избавьте.  
"Eh, I've no time, spare me."
> Polite imperative «избавьте»: The -те ending makes a polite/plural command from «избавить» ('to spare, deliver'). Used absolutely it means 'spare me [this], leave me out of it' — a curt brush-off.
> «некогда» — 'no time': An impersonal negative adverb, 'there's no time'. It governs a dative experiencer (here understood 'I have no time') and an infinitive — part of the family of «не́где, не́куда, не́кому».

— Эх, одолжи отца, припомню!  
"Eh, do your father this favor — I won't forget it!
> Imperative «одолжи» + animate accusative: «одолжи» (imperative of «одолжить», 'do a favour / oblige') takes «отца» — the animate masculine accusative borrowing the genitive form. 'Do your father this favour.'
> Perfective future «припомню»: From «припомнить» ('to recall, bear in mind'), the present-form ending is future — 'I'll remember [the favour]'. A folksy promise of gratitude, half a veiled threat in Fyodor's mouth.

Без сердца вы все, вот что!  
You've none of you any heart, that's what!
> «без» + genitive «сердца»: «без сердца» ('without heart, heartless') — the preposition «без» governs the genitive. The omitted copula ('you are all heartless') is normal in the present tense.
> Emphatic tag «вот что»: A clinching demonstrative tag — 'that's what [you are]'. «вот» points emphatically; «что» is the relative neuter. Spoken Russian loves to cap an outburst this way.

Чего тебе день али два?  
What's a day or two to you?
> Dative of concern «тебе» + «чего»: 'What's a day or two to you?' — the dative «тебе» marks the person concerned, with no verb at all (zero-copula impersonal). Folk «али» again stands for «или» ('or').

Куда ты теперь, в Венецию?  
Where are you off to now — Venice?
> Directional «куда» + «в» accusative: «куда» asks 'whither, to where' (motion, not location). «в Венецию» uses «в» + accusative for motion-toward. The verb of going is dropped, leaving only the direction.

Не развалится твоя Венеция в два-то дня.  
Your Venice won't fall to pieces in a couple of days.
> Reflexive perfective future «развалится»: «развалиться» ('to fall apart, collapse') is a -ся change-of-state verb; the present-form ending gives perfective future — 'your Venice won't collapse'. Negated by «не».
> Topic-clitic «-то» on a phrase: «в два-то дня» — the «-то» clitic latches onto «два» to highlight the modest span: 'in a mere couple of days'. «дня» is the genitive singular required after «два».

Я Алешку послал бы, да ведь что Алешка в этих делах?  
I'd have sent Alyoshka, only what does Alyoshka know about such matters?
> Conditional with «бы»: Past-tense «послал» + the particle «бы» builds the irrealis — 'I would have sent [Alyoshka]'. The «бы» here leans toward the front of the clause rather than hugging the verb.
> «Алёшка» — pejorative-familiar form: The «-ка» suffix on «Алёша» gives a dismissive, lowly tint — Fyodor speaks of his son almost as of a servant. Russian first names branch into ladders of warmth and contempt; «Алёшка» sits low.
> Particles «да ведь»: «да» here is the contrastive 'but', and «ведь» appeals to the obvious — 'but after all, what does Alyoshka [understand] in such affairs?'. A bare rhetorical question, verb omitted.

Я ведь единственно потому, что ты умный человек, разве я не вижу.  
It's solely because you're a clever man — don't I see it?
> «потому, что» causal: 'It's solely because you're a clever man' — «потому что» gives the reason, with «единственно» ('only') sharpening it. The main verb ('I [ask] you') is left unspoken, as so often in agitated speech.
> Rhetorical «разве … не»: «разве» introduces an incredulous question expecting 'yes' — 'don't I see it [of course I do]?'. Paired with «не» it becomes a strong affirmation by double-negative rhetoric.

Лесом не торгуешь, а глаз имеешь.  
You don't deal in timber, but you've got an eye.
> Instrumental of object of trade «лесом»: «торговать» ('to deal in, trade') governs the instrumental — «лесом» 'in timber'. 'You don't deal in timber, but you have an eye.' The «а» is the mild contrastive 'but/and'.

Тут только чтобы видеть: всерьез или нет человек говорит.  
All that's needed here is to see whether the man's talking in earnest or not.
> «чтобы» + infinitive of purpose: Elliptical 'all that's needed here is [for one] to see' — «чтобы» + the infinitive «видеть» frames the sole purpose. The main clause is compressed to «тут только».
> Embedded yes/no question: An indirect question without «ли»: 'whether the man speaks in earnest or not'. The disjunction «или нет» does the work, and «человек» sits between the adverb and verb in flexible order.

Говорю, гляди на бороду: трясется бороденка — значит всерьез.  
I tell you, watch the beard: if the little beard trembles — then he's in earnest."
> Bare «говорю» + imperative: «Говорю» ('I [tell you]') is a conversational discourse-marker reinforcing the command «гляди» ('watch'). The imperfective «гляди» fits an ongoing, repeated watching.
> Verb-first conditional clause: Fronting the verb «трясётся» ('trembles') makes an 'if-then' without «если» — 'should the little beard tremble, then it's earnest'. «значит» supplies the inference. The pejorative «бороденка» recurs.

— Сами ж вы меня в Чермашню эту проклятую толкаете, а?  
"So you're shoving me off to that cursed Chermashnya yourself, are you?"
> Emphatic «сами ж» + «вы»: «сами» ('[you] yourselves') with the clipped particle «ж» (= «же») throws the blame back hard — 'so it's you yourself shoving me'. Ivan uses formal «вы» to his father, the strained distance audible.
> «проклятую» — accursed: «проклятый» ('cursed, damned'), past passive participle of «проклясть», used as an adjective of disgust — 'that cursed Chermashnya'. «эту» is simply the demonstrative «этот» (acc. fem.) in postposition; there is no «-то» clitic here.

— вскричал Иван Федорович, злобно усмехнувшись.  
cried Ivan Fyodorovich, with a malicious grin.
> Perfective gerund «усмехнувшись»: «усмехнувшись» is the past adverbial participle (деепричастие) of reflexive «усмехнуться», 'having smirked'. It pins the manner of «вскричал» — 'cried out, with a malicious grin'. A hallmark of literary narration.

Федор Павлович злобы не разглядел или не хотел разглядеть, а усмешку подхватил:  
Fyodor Pavlovich either failed to notice the malice or did not wish to, but caught at the grin:
> Genitive of negation «злобы»: Negated «не разглядел» ('did not make out') pushes its object «злоба» ('malice') into the genitive «злобы». The contrast «не хотел разглядеть» ('did not wish to') sharpens Fyodor's deliberate blindness.
> Contrastive «а» + accusative object: «а» turns the clause — 'but caught at the grin instead'. «усмешку» is the feminine accusative object of «подхватил» ('seized upon'). The «а» marks the pivot from what he ignored to what he seized.

— Значит, едешь, едешь?  
"Then you're going, you're going?
> Reduplicated «едешь, едешь»: Doubling the present «едешь» ('you're going') conveys eager, anxious insistence — a spoken-Russian device for pressing emphasis. «Значит» opens it as 'so then, you're going, going?'.

Сейчас тебе записку настрочу.  
I'll scribble you a note this minute."
> Perfective future «настрочу» + dative: «настрочить» ('to dash off, scribble') is perfective; «настрочу» is its future, 'I'll scribble [it] this minute'. The dative «тебе» is 'for you'. The «на-» prefix again suggests rapid heaping-out.

— Не знаю, поеду ли, не знаю, дорогой решу.  
"I don't know whether I'll go, I don't know — I'll decide on the road."
> Embedded «whether» with «ли»: «поеду ли» fronts the perfective-future verb and tags «ли» to mean 'whether I'll go'. Inside 'I don't know …' it is the standard indirect yes/no question.
> Instrumental of route «дорогой»: «дорогой» ('on the way, en route') is the bare instrumental of «дорога», used adverbially for the path along which something happens. «решу» is perfective future, 'I'll decide [it] on the road'.

— Что дорогой, реши сейчас.  
"Why on the road? Decide now.
> Dismissive «что» + imperative «реши»: Colloquial «что дорогой?» means 'what do you mean, on the road?' — brushing the idea aside. «реши» is the perfective imperative, 'decide [it] now', one finished act.

Голубчик, реши!  
My dear boy, decide!
> «голубчик» — 'my dear', literally 'little dove': An affectionate, wheedling diminutive (from «голубь», 'dove') used to coax. In Fyodor's mouth it is honeyed and self-serving, layering false tenderness over his pressure.
> Repeated imperative «реши»: The lone perfective imperative «реши!» ('decide!') hammers the demand. Its bareness — no object, no qualifier — gives the urgent, pleading force.

Сговоришься, напиши мне две строчки, вручи батюшке, и он мне мигом твою цидулку пришлет.  
Come to terms with him, write me a couple of lines, hand them to the priest, and he'll send your scrap of a note on to me in a flash.
> Asyndetic chain of perfective commands: A run of perfectives with no conjunctions: «сговоришься» (future-conditional), then imperatives «напиши» ('write'), «вручи» ('hand over'). Each names one crisp completed step in the plan.
> Dative recipient «батюшке»: «вручить» ('to hand to') governs the dative of the recipient — «батюшке» 'to the priest'. The diminutive-shaped «батюшка» is the respectful word for a parish priest (see culture note).
> «цидулка» — a scrap of a note: «цидула / цидулка» (from Latin schedula via Polish) is a jocular, slightly dismissive word for a short note or chit. The diminutive «-ка» belittles it further — 'your little scrap of a note'.

А затем и не держу тебя, ступай в Венецию.  
And after that I won't hold you back — off you go to Venice.
> Connective «а затем»; «не держу»: «а затем» ('and after that'), with the emphatic «и» on «не держу» ('I won't even hold you'). The imperfective present «держу» states a general willingness, 'I'm not keeping you back'.
> Imperative «ступай» + motion «в»: «ступай» (imperative of «ступать», 'to step / go') is an old, slightly folksy 'off you go'. «в Венецию» is «в» + accusative for motion-toward.

Тебя обратно на Воловью станцию батюшка на своих доставит…  
The priest will get you back to the Volovya station with his own horses…"
> Elliptical «на своих» + perfective future: «на своих [лошадях]» — 'with his own [horses]', the noun left understood; «своих» is the reflexive possessive pointing to the priest's own. «доставит» is perfective future, 'will deliver [you]'.

Старик был просто в восторге, записку настрочил, послали за лошадьми, подали закуску, коньяк.  
The old man was simply delighted; he scribbled the note, sent for the horses, and had a relish and some brandy brought out.
> «в восторге» — prepositional of state: 'The old man was simply in raptures' — «в восторге» (в + prepositional) names an emotional state one is 'in'. «просто» ('simply') intensifies.
> Asyndetic perfective narration: A string of perfective pasts with no conjunctions — «настрочил, послали, подали» — drives the action forward event by event: scribbled, sent, served. The shift to plural «послали/подали» ('they sent/served') is an impersonal 'they'.
> «закуска» and «коньяк»: A «закуска» is a 'bite' or relish taken with drink; «коньяк» is brandy/cognac. Calling for them celebrates the deal — the small ritual of Russian hospitality even at a strained parting.

Когда старик бывал рад, то всегда начинал экспансивничать, но на этот раз он как бы сдерживался.  
When the old man was pleased, he always began to expand, but this time he seemed somehow to hold himself in check.
> Iterative imperfective «бывал»: «бывал» (imperfective of «быть» with iterative force) means 'used to be, would be' on each such occasion — habitual past. It sets the standing rule against which 'this time' (the next clause) breaks.
> «экспансивничать» — to gush: A mock-bookish coinage from the borrowed «экспансивный» ('effusive') plus the colloquial verb-suffix «-ничать» — 'to act expansively, gush'. The narrator's faintly ironic word for Fyodor's overflowing manner.
> Hedging «как бы» + reflexive: «как бы» ('as it were, somehow') hedges the observation. «сдерживался» is imperfective reflexive «сдерживаться» ('to restrain oneself'), painting an ongoing effort to hold back.

Про Дмитрия Федоровича, например, не произнес ни единого словечка.  
About Dmitri Fyodorovich, for instance, he did not utter a single little word.
> «ни единого» + genitive of negation: Emphatic «ни единого словечка» ('not a single little word') intensifies the negation, and the negated object stands in the genitive «словечка». The diminutive «словечко» heightens 'not even one tiny word'.

Разлукой же совсем не был тронут.  
Nor was he in the least moved by the parting.
> Instrumental agent «разлукой» + short participle: Passive: 'was not in the least moved by the parting'. The agent/cause «разлукой» ('by the parting') stands in the instrumental, and «тронут» is the short passive participle of «тронуть». Fronting «разлукой» topicalizes it.

Даже как бы и не находил, о чем говорить; и Иван Федорович это очень заметил: «Надоел же я ему, однако», — подумал он про себя.  
He even seemed at a loss for anything to talk about; and Ivan Fyodorovich noticed this clearly: "He's grown sick of me, though," he thought to himself.
> «о чём» — prepositional after «о»: 'Seemed at a loss for anything to talk about'. «о чём» is the interrogative «что» in the prepositional after «о» ('about'). Again the hedging «как бы» softens the narrator's inference.
> «надоесть» + dative experiencer: «надоел … ему» — 'I've bored him, he's grown sick of me'. «надоесть» governs a dative experiencer («ему», to whom one becomes tiresome). The «же» adds rueful emphasis, «однако» ('though') a second thought.
> «про себя» — reflexive 'to oneself': «про себя» ('inwardly, to himself') uses the reflexive «себя», which always points back to the clause's subject and has no nominative. It frames the line as Ivan's silent thought.

Только провожая сына уже с крыльца, старик немного как бы заметался, полез было лобызаться.  
Only when he was already seeing his son off from the porch did the old man bustle a little, as it were, and start forward to kiss him.
> Present gerund «провожая»: «провожая» is the imperfective adverbial participle (деепричастие) of «провожать», 'while seeing off' — simultaneous attendant action sharing Fyodor as subject. It opens the long literary sentence.
> Particle «было» — an aborted action: «было» after a perfective past marks an action begun but checked or undone — 'started to [kiss] but [didn't]'. «лобызаться» is the reciprocal -ся verb 'to kiss [each other]', here in archaic register (see vocabulary).
> «лобызаться» — to kiss (elevated/ironic): «лобызать(ся)» is a high, Church-Slavonic-tinged word for kissing (cf. «лобзание»), here faintly ironic for Fyodor's theatrical lunge. The narrator's elevated verb mocks the gesture's insincerity.

Но Иван Федорович поскорее протянул ему для пожатия руку, видимо отстраняя лобзания.  
But Ivan Fyodorovich quickly held out his hand for a shake, plainly fending off the embrace.
> Comparative-adverb «поскорее» + dative: «поскорее» is the comparative of «скоро» ('quickly') with «по-» softening it to 'rather quickly, hastily'. The dative «ему» is the recipient of the offered hand «руку» (accusative).
> Present gerund «отстраняя»: «отстраняя» (imperfective деепричастие of «отстранять») gives the simultaneous manner — 'plainly fending off the embrace'. «лобзания» (genitive object of warding-off) again carries the elevated Slavonic colour.

Старик тотчас понял и вмиг осадил себя.  
The old man understood at once and instantly reined himself in.
> Perfective pair + reflexive «себя»: Two crisp perfectives, «понял» ('understood') and «осадил» ('reined in'), with the adverbs «тотчас» / «вмиг» ('at once / in a flash'). «осадил себя» uses the full reflexive pronoun «себя» — 'reined himself in', from horsemanship imagery.

— Ну, с богом, с богом!  
"Well, God be with you, God be with you!"
> «с» + instrumental «богом»: The preposition «с» ('with') governs the instrumental «богом» (of «бог»). The phrase fossilizes this accompaniment sense into a blessing.

— повторял он с крыльца.  
he repeated from the porch.
> Imperfective «повторял» for repetition: «повторял» (imperfective past) renders the action as ongoing/repeated — 'he kept repeating'. The imperfective is precisely what conveys the calling-out over and over from the porch.

— Ведь приедешь еще когда в жизни-то?  
"You'll come again sometime in your life, won't you?
> «ведь» + «-то»; perfective future «приедешь»: «ведь» appeals for agreement ('you will, won't you?'), and the topic-clitic «-то» on «в жизни» warms it — 'sometime in your life, you know'. «приедешь» (prefixed motion «приехать») is perfective future, 'you'll arrive [again]'.

Ну и приезжай, всегда буду рад.  
Well, do come — I'll always be glad.
> Imperfective imperative + compound future: «приезжай» is the imperfective imperative of «приезжать» — an open, repeatable invitation 'do come'. «буду рад» is the «быть»-future of state, 'I'll always be glad'.

Ну, Христос с тобою!  
Well, Christ be with you!"
> Archaic instrumental «-ою»: «тобою» is the full, literary instrumental of «ты» (= «тобой»). The longer ending lends the parting a faintly solemn, old-fashioned ring.

Иван Федорович влез в тарантас.  
Ivan Fyodorovich climbed into the tarantass.
> Prefixed motion «влез» + «в» accusative: «влез» (perfective «влезть», 'climbed in') with «в тарантас» (в + accusative, motion-into) marks one completed act of getting in. The в-/«в» prefix and preposition echo the 'into' direction.

— Прощай, Иван, очень-то не брани!  
"Farewell, Ivan — don't be too hard on me!"
> Imperative «прощай» + «-то» softener: «прощай» (imperfective imperative of «прощать») is the farewell 'forgive / goodbye'. «очень-то не брани» — the «-то» softens 'don't [you] scold me too hard'; «брани» is the negated imperfective imperative of «бранить».

— крикнул в последний раз отец.  
the father called out for the last time.
> Perfective «крикнул»; subject-last order: «крикнул» (perfective «крикнуть') is a single sharp cry, against the earlier iterative «повторял». Placing the subject «отец» last is normal in dialogue tags, throwing weight on the verb of speaking.

Провожать вышли все домашние: Смердяков, Марфа и Григорий.  
The whole household came out to see him off: Smerdyakov, Marfa, and Grigory.
> Purpose infinitive «провожать»: The bare infinitive «провожать» states the purpose of «вышли» — 'came out [in order] to see [him] off'. «домашние» is a substantivized adjective, 'the household folk'.

Иван Федорович подарил всем по десяти рублей.  
Ivan Fyodorovich gave each of them ten rubles.
> Distributive «по» + numeral: «по десяти рублей» — the distributive «по» means 'ten rubles apiece' to each. The older dative «десяти» (modern usage often «по десять») and the genitive plural «рублей» after the number show the distributive construction.

Когда уже он уселся в тарантас, Смердяков подскочил поправить ковер.  
When he had already settled into the tarantass, Smerdyakov darted up to set the rug straight.
> Perfective sequence + purpose infinitive: Two perfectives set the scene then the event: «уселся» ('had settled in', reflexive) and «подскочил» ('darted up'), with the purpose infinitive «поправить» ('to set straight'). The «уже» marks the first action as already complete when the second strikes.

— Видишь… в Чермашню еду…  
"You see… I'm going to Chermashnya…"
> Discourse «видишь» + motion «еду»: «видишь» ('you see') is a conversational opener seeking complicity. «еду» is the present of unidirectional «ехать» for an imminent journey — 'I'm off to Chermashnya'. «в Чермашню» is в + accusative, motion-toward.

— как-то вдруг вырвалось у Ивана Федоровича, опять как вчера, так само собою слетело, да еще с каким-то нервным смешком.  
— it somehow burst out of Ivan Fyodorovich, again as it had the day before, slipping out of its own accord, and even with a kind of nervous little laugh.
> Reflexive «-ся» as spontaneous middle: «Вырваться» (here «вырвалось») uses the clitic «-ся/-сь» to make the verb intransitive and self-acting: the words 'tore themselves out' of Ivan, with no one doing it on purpose. This middle-voice «-ся» is exactly what gives the sentence its sense of words escaping against the speaker's will.
> «у» + genitive locates the experiencer: «Вырвалось у Ивана Федоровича» literally is 'it burst out from Ivan Fyodorovich' — the preposition «у» governs the genitive «Ивана Федоровича» and frames him as the source/possessor of the involuntary utterance. The whole impersonal frame keeps Ivan grammatically passive to his own speech.
> «смешок» — a small, nervous laugh: «Смешок» is «смех» (laughter) with the diminutive suffix «-ок», naming a brief, slight, often uneasy little laugh rather than full laughter. The diminutive here is expressive, not literal: it colours the laugh as twitchy and self-betraying — «нервный смешок».

Долго он это вспоминал потом.  
He remembered it for a long while afterward.
> Fronted «долго» and imperfective of lingering memory: The adverb «долго» (for a long time) is fronted for emphasis, putting the duration first — a topic-comment ordering the free case system permits. The imperfective «вспоминал» fits perfectly: it views the remembering as a drawn-out, repeated process, not a single recollection.

— Значит, правду говорят люди, что с умным человеком и поговорить любопытно, — твердо ответил Смердяков, проникновенно глянув на Ивана Федоровича.  
"It seems people are right when they say it's worth speaking to a clever man," Smerdyakov answered firmly, fixing a penetrating look on Ivan Fyodorovich.
> Instrumental of accompaniment after «с»: «С умным человеком» ('with a clever man') is the instrumental case governed by the preposition «с» meaning 'with'. The adjective «умным» agrees with «человеком» in the instrumental, making the case visible twice over.
> Perfective past gerund «глянув»: «Глянув» is a perfective past «деепричастие» (adverbial participle) in «-в»: 'having shot a glance'. It compresses a prior, completed action sharing Smerdyakov's subject onto the main verb «ответил» — a hallmark of literary narration that ties his look to his answer.
> «проникновенно» — penetratingly, with feeling: From «проникнуть» (to penetrate), «проникновенно» means with a look or tone that seems to pierce through to the soul — earnest, heartfelt, searching. It loads Smerdyakov's glance with an unsettling intimacy.

Тарантас тронулся и помчался.  
The carriage started off and went racing away.
> Two perfectives chaining the action forward: «Тронулся» (started off) and «помчался» (went racing) are both perfective: each names a single completed event, and together they advance the narrative step by step. Both also carry «-ся» as motion/change-of-state verbs.
> «тарантас» — a springless travelling cart: A «тарантас» was a low, four-wheeled travelling carriage with long flexible side-poles instead of springs, used for long hauls over rough Russian roads. The word evokes the dusty provincial journey Ivan is making away from his father's town.

В душе путешественника было смутно, но он жадно глядел кругом на поля, на холмы, на деревья, на стаю гусей, пролетавшую над ним высоко по ясному небу.  
The traveler's soul was in a fog, yet he gazed greedily about him — at the fields, the hills, the trees, at a flock of geese flying high above him across the clear sky.
> Impersonal state with «было» + neuter predicate: «Было смутно» is an impersonal construction: no nominative subject, just neuter «было» plus the predicative «смутно» ('it was dim/troubled'). The location «в душе путешественника» ('in the traveller's soul') hosts a vague inner weather rather than an agent — a very Dostoevskian way of rendering mood.
> «на» + accusative for the object of gazing: Each item Ivan looks at takes «на» with the accusative — «глядел на поля, на холмы…». Here «на» marks the goal/target of his gaze, and the piled-up accusatives give the looking its hungry, sweeping rhythm.
> Past active participle «пролетавшую»: «Пролетавшую» is an active participle modifying «стаю» (flock), agreeing with it in feminine accusative singular: 'a flock [that was] flying'. It condenses a «который»-clause into one bookish modifier, painting the geese in mid-flight.

И вдруг ему стало так хорошо.  
And all at once he felt so well.
> Dative subject: 'to him it became so good': The experiencer stands in the dative «ему», with no nominative subject and the neuter predicate «стало хорошо» — literally 'to him it became so good/well'. This dative-experiencer pattern is how Russian routinely frames a wash of feeling rather than a deliberate act.

Он попробовал заговорить с извозчиком, и его ужасно что-то заинтересовало из того, что ответил ему мужик, но чрез минуту сообразил, что всё мимо ушей пролетело и что он, по правде, и не понял того, что мужик ответил.  
He tried to strike up a conversation with the driver, and something in what the peasant answered interested him terribly, but a minute later he realized that it had all flown past his ears and that, to tell the truth, he had not even understood what the peasant had said.
> Indefinite «что-то» as the surprising subject: «Что-то» ('something', specific but unidentified) is built from «что» + the clitic «-то», marking a real but unnamed thing that caught his interest. It is the grammatical subject here, while «его» is the accusative object — 'something interested him terribly'.
> Correlative «то, что» — 'that which': «Из того, что…» pairs the demonstrative «того» (genitive of «то», after «из») with the relative «что» to mean 'out of that which the peasant answered'. This «то, что» correlative is the standard bookish way to nominalise a whole clause.
> «чрез» — archaic/poetic «через»: «Чрез» is the shortened, bookish-poetic variant of «через» ('after, through'), a non-pleophonic form felt as elevated and 19th-century. In everyday speech one says «через минуту»; «чрез» lends the line a literary cadence.
> Idiom: «мимо ушей» — to go in one ear and out the other: «Пролетело мимо ушей» literally 'flew past the ears' — the set idiom for words not registering at all. The verb «пролетело» also chimes with the geese «пролетавшую» just above and the flight imagery that runs through the chapter.

Он замолчал, хорошо было и так: воздух чистый, свежий, холодноватый, небо ясное.  
He fell silent; it was fine even so — the air was clean, fresh, a little cold, the sky clear.
> Zero copula in the present: These clauses have no verb at all: «воздух чистый» = 'the air [is] clean', «небо ясное» = 'the sky [is] clear'. Russian uses no present-tense 'to be', so the nominative noun simply sits beside its nominative adjective — clipped, sensory, present-moment.
> «холодноватый» — slightly cold: The suffix «-оват-» on «холодный» softens the adjective to 'somewhat cold, a little chilly'. This attenuating suffix (cf. «сладковатый» slightly sweet) is a precise way to register a faint degree of a quality.

Мелькнули было в уме его образы Алеши и Катерины Ивановны; но он тихо усмехнулся и тихо дунул на милые призраки, и они отлетели: «Будет еще их время», — подумал он.  
The images of Alyosha and Katerina Ivanovna flickered through his mind; but he smiled quietly and quietly blew on the dear phantoms, and they flew off: "Their time will come yet," he thought.
> The particle «было» of the interrupted action: «Мелькнули было» uses the special particle «было» (invariable, distinct from the past of «быть»): an action just begun or about to happen, then arrested — the images 'started to flicker' but he blew them away. It recurs in this chapter (s137 «вошел было»), a fine 19th-century nuance.
> Simple future of «быть» — 'their time will come': «Будет» here is the conjugated future of «быть» functioning existentially: 'there will be their time yet'. The nominative «время» is the thing that 'will be', and the fronted «будет» throws the emphasis onto the certainty of its coming.
> «милые призраки» — dear phantoms: «Призрак» is a ghost, phantom, or apparition. Calling the mental images of Alyosha and Katerina «милые призраки» ('dear phantoms') turns living people into wraiths Ivan can literally blow away — a chilling foreshadowing of how he is setting them aside.

Станцию отмахали быстро, переменили лошадей и помчались на Воловью.  
They covered the stage quickly, changed horses, and went tearing on toward Volovya.
> «отмахать» — to cover (a distance) briskly: Colloquial «отмахать» means to dash off or knock out a stretch of road quickly (literally 'to wave/swing through'). «Станцию отмахали быстро» = 'they knocked out the post-stage fast', a folksy, vigorous coachman's word.

«Почему с умным человеком поговорить любопытно, что он этим хотел сказать?  
"Why is it worth speaking to a clever man — what did he mean by that?"
> Instrumental «этим» of means — 'by that': «Этим» is the instrumental of «это», marking the means: 'what did he mean by that?' The instrumental answers 'by what?', so «хотел сказать этим» = 'wished to say by means of that'. The whole line stages Ivan turning Smerdyakov's words over.

— вдруг так и захватило ему дух.  
— it suddenly took his breath away.
> Impersonal idiom with dative experiencer: «Захватило дух» is an impersonal expression (neuter verb, no nominative subject) meaning 'it took the breath away'; the affected person stands in the dative «ему». The particle «так и» intensifies it — 'it absolutely took his breath away'.

— А я зачем доложил ему, что в Чермашню еду?» Доскакали до Воловьей станции.  
"And why did I report to him that I was going to Chermashnya?" They galloped up to the Volovya station.
> Topic-shifting «а» plus fronted «зачем»: The coordinator «а» opens a fresh, contrasting thought ('and as for me…'), while «зачем» (what for, why) is fronted to make the self-reproach the focus. Together they catch Ivan abruptly turning the question on himself.

Иван Федорович вышел из тарантаса, и ямщики его обступили.  
Ivan Fyodorovich climbed out of the carriage, and the drivers crowded around him.
> Object-first word order: «Ямщики его обступили» places subject «ямщики», then object «его» before the verb 'crowded around'. The free case system lets the object slip in front of the verb without ambiguity, keeping Ivan (the topic) close to the action that envelops him.
> «ямщик» — a post-coachman: A «ямщик» was a hired coachman of the «ям» postal-relay system, distinct from a private driver. The word is steeped in old Russian road life; here the «ямщики» swarm Ivan touting for the next leg of his trip.

Рядились в Чермашню, двенадцать верст проселком, на вольных.  
They began to bargain about Chermashnya — twelve versts by a country road, with hired horses.
> Subjectless plural imperfective: «Рядились» ('they were bargaining') drops the subject entirely — understood from the plural ending and context (Ivan and the drivers). The imperfective views the haggling as an ongoing process, and the «-ся» here gives «рядиться» its reciprocal 'bargain with one another' sense.
> Genitive plural after a numeral: After «двенадцать» the noun takes the genitive plural «верст». Numbers from five up (and compounds, and the teens) govern the genitive plural of what they count, which is why it is «верст» and not «версты».

Он велел впрягать.  
He told them to harness up.
> Imperfective infinitive after «велеть»: «Велел впрягать» ('ordered [them] to harness') uses the imperfective infinitive «впрягать», which with verbs of ordering and beginning names the activity to be taken up, without focus on its completion. The unnamed addressee (the drivers) is understood.

Вошел было в станционный дом, огляделся кругом, взглянул было на смотрительшу и вдруг вышел обратно на крыльцо.  
He started into the station house, looked about him, glanced at the postmistress, and suddenly stepped back out onto the porch.
> Twice-repeated «было» of the arrested move: «Вошел было… взглянул было» again uses the particle «было»: he 'started to go in' and 'made as if to glance', actions then cut off by «и вдруг вышел обратно». The doubled «было» mimics his hesitant, half-completed entry before he abruptly retreats.
> «смотрительша» — the postmaster's wife/postmistress: «Смотритель» is the station-master; the suffix «-ша» colloquially makes the feminine, here the postmaster's wife (or the woman keeping the station). The accusative «смотрительшу» shows the animate-feminine ending. The «-ша» suffix is informal and slightly homely in tone.

— Не надо в Чермашню.  
"No need for Chermashnya."
> Impersonal «не надо» of needlessness: «Не надо» ('no need, one mustn't') is an impersonal predicate of necessity, here negated, with no subject. The terse «не надо в Чермашню» drops even the verb — 'no need [to go] to Chermashnya' — capturing Ivan's sudden reversal.

Не опоздаю, братцы, к семи часам на железную дорогу?  
"I won't be late for the seven o'clock train at the railway, will I, lads?"
> Negated question expecting reassurance: «Не опоздаю?» is a perfective simple future ('will I not be late?'). Framing the question in the negative invites a reassuring 'no, you won't' — a common Russian way of asking anxiously for confirmation.
> «братцы» — affectionate 'lads, brothers': «Братцы» is the affectionate-familiar plural of «брат», a warm, folksy term of address to ordinary men ('lads, fellows'). It sets Ivan's tone with the coachmen as easy and good-humoured.

— Как раз потрафим.  
"We'll make it just right."
> «потрафить» — to hit it just right: Colloquial-dialectal «потрафить» means to manage to do something exactly right, to time or aim it well. «Как раз потрафим» = 'we'll get you there just right' — the coachman's confident, homely idiom.
> Perfective future of confident assurance: «Потрафим» is a perfective verb conjugated like a present, which yields future meaning: 'we will manage it'. The perfective stresses the guaranteed completed result, exactly suited to a promise.

Запрягать, что ли?  
"Shall we harness up, then?"
> The hedging particle «что ли»: «Запрягать, что ли?» tacks on «что ли», a colloquial particle that turns a statement into a tentative, half-asking suggestion ('shall we harness up, then?'). It softens the question with a shrug of uncertainty, very characteristic of peasant speech.

— Впрягай мигом.  
"Harness up at once."
> Singular imperative «впрягай»: «Впрягай» is the imperfective imperative (2nd-person singular) from «впрягать»: the «-й» imperative after a vowel stem. The imperfective command urges the activity itself — 'get harnessing!' — and feels more immediate and pressing than a perfective order would.
> «мигом» — in a flash: «Мигом» is the frozen instrumental of «миг» ('an instant') used adverbially: 'in a flash, instantly'. Such adverbialised instrumentals («бегом», «шёпотом») are a tidy corner of Russian.

Не будет ли кто завтра из вас в городе?  
"Will any of you be in town tomorrow?"
> «ли» question with negative framing: The interrogative enclitic «ли» follows the fronted, focused «не будет» to form a polite yes/no question — 'will anyone of you be in town?'. «Будет» is the future of «быть»; the negative framing again softens the ask.

— Как не быть, вот Митрий будет.  
"How could there not be — there, Mitry will."
> Rhetorical «как не…» — 'of course there will be': «Как не быть» literally 'how [could there] not be' is a fixed rhetorical retort affirming strongly by way of a negative question — 'why, of course'. The bare infinitive «быть» with «как не» is a lively colloquial pattern.
> «Митрий» — folk form of Дмитрий: «Митрий» is the popular, peasant pronunciation of the name «Дмитрий». The colloquial reshaping marks the speaker as one of the common folk and gives the dialogue its earthy texture.

— Не можешь ли, Митрий, услугу оказать?  
"Couldn't you do me a service, Mitry?"
> Polite request with «не … ли»: «Не можешь ли… оказать услугу?» combines negation with the particle «ли» to make a courteous, tentative request — 'couldn't you do [me] a service?'. The negative-plus-«ли» frame is the standard polite softening in Russian.

Зайди ты к отцу моему, Федору Павловичу Карамазову, и скажи ты ему, что я в Чермашню не поехал.  
"Call on my father, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and tell him that I did not go to Chermashnya."
> Perfective imperative + dative goal «к»: «Зайди» is the perfective imperative ('drop in, call on'), and «к отцу моему» uses «к» with the dative to mark the person visited. The added pronoun «ты» after the imperative is emphatic-coaxing, common in spoken urging.

Можешь аль нет?  
"Can you, or not?"
> «аль» — folk-poetic 'or': «Аль» is a dialectal/folk variant of «или» ('or'). «Можешь аль нет?» ('can you or not?') sounds rustic and archaic, marking Mitry and Ivan's exchange as plain peasant talk.

— Почему не зайти, зайдем; Федора Павловича очень давно знаем.  
"Why not call on him — we'll call; we've known Fyodor Pavlovich a very long time."
> Bare infinitive of casual assent: «Почему не зайти» uses a bare perfective infinitive in a rhetorical 'why not call in', met by the perfective future «зайдём» ('we'll call'). The infinitive-only construction conveys easy, offhand willingness.
> Imperfective present for a state reaching back: «Очень давно знаем» ('we've known [him] a very long time') uses the imperfective present «знаем» for a situation that began in the past and still holds — where English needs a perfect. With «давно», the present tense covers the whole stretch of acquaintance.

— А вот тебе и на чай, потому он тебе, пожалуй, не даст…  
"And here's something for your tea, because he probably won't give you any —"
> Modal «пожалуй» — 'probably, I dare say': «Пожалуй» here is a modal particle of tentative supposition: 'probably, very likely'. It hedges Ivan's prediction that his father won't pay — 'he probably won't give you any'.

— весело засмеялся Иван Федорович.  
Ivan Fyodorovich laughed merrily.

— А и впрямь не дадут, — засмеялся и Митрий.  
"And truly he won't," Mitry laughed too.
> Indefinite-personal plural 'they won't': «Не дадут» is a 3rd-person plural with no stated subject — the indefinite-personal construction, here standing for 'he/they (in the household) won't give'. Russian uses this bare plural where English reaches for 'one' or a vague 'they'.
> «впрямь» — truly, indeed: «Впрямь» (often «и впрямь») is a colloquial intensifier meaning 'really, indeed, sure enough'. Mitry's «а и впрямь не дадут» heartily confirms Ivan's joke: 'and truly they won't'.

— Спасибо, сударь, непременно выполним…  
"Thank you, sir, we'll be sure to carry it out —"
> Perfective future of firm promise: «Выполним» (perfective future, 'we will carry it out [to completion]') paired with «непременно» ('without fail') gives a solemn promise. The perfective insists on the finished result, not the trying.

В семь часов вечера Иван Федорович вошел в вагон и полетел в Москву.  
At seven in the evening Ivan Fyodorovich got into the railway car and flew off toward Moscow.
> Two perfectives + «в» accusative of motion: «Вошёл» and «полетел» are perfectives that move the scene on, and «в вагон / в Москву» take «в» with the accusative for motion toward a goal. «Полетел» ('flew off') metaphorically casts the train journey as flight.
> «вагон» — railway carriage: «Вагон» (from French/German) is a railway car. Ivan's stepping into the «вагон» seals the modern, mechanical mode of his flight to Moscow, set against the «тарантас» and post-horses of the earlier stages.

«Прочь всё прежнее, кончено с прежним миром навеки, и чтобы не было из него ни вести, ни отзыва; в новый мир, в новые места, и без оглядки!» Но вместо восторга на душу его сошел вдруг такой мрак, а в сердце заныла такая скорбь, какой никогда он не ощущал прежде во всю свою жизнь.  
"Away with all that was before — done with the old world forever, and let there come from it neither word nor echo; into a new world, to new places, and without a backward glance!" But instead of rapture, such a darkness suddenly descended upon his soul, and such a grief began to ache in his heart, as he had never felt before in his whole life.
> «чтобы» + irrealis with genitive of negation: «Чтобы не было… ни вести, ни отзыва» uses «чтобы» (here a willed 'let there be…') plus the negated existential «не было», which forces the genitive «вести, отзыва». The paired «ни… ни…» piles negation on negation in the high rhetorical manner.
> Correlative «такой… какой» and negative concord: The intensifier «такой» ('such') is answered by the relative «какой» ('as'): 'such a darkness as he had never felt'. The relative clause carries negative concord — «никогда… не ощущал» — 'never had not felt', two negatives making one.
> «скорбь» — deep, solemn grief: «Скорбь» is grief of a weighty, almost sacred register — sorrow, anguish, mourning — far heavier than ordinary «грусть». «Заныла такая скорбь» ('such a grief began to ache') gives Ivan's despair a near-liturgical gravity.

Он продумал всю ночь; вагон летел, и только на рассвете, уже въезжая в Москву, он вдруг как бы очнулся.  
He thought it over all night long; the train flew on, and only at daybreak, as he was already entering Moscow, did he suddenly seem to come to himself.
> Imperfective present gerund «въезжая»: «Въезжая» is a present (imperfective) «деепричастие»: 'as he was entering [Moscow]', an action simultaneous with the main clause and sharing its subject. It sets the moment of his 'coming to himself' against the ongoing arrival.
> Hedging «как бы» — 'as if': «Как бы очнулся» ('seemed, as it were, to come to himself') uses «как бы» to soften and qualify — a tentative 'as if'. Note: this «бы» is part of the fixed «как бы» and is not the conditional; it casts a film of unreality over Ivan's awakening.

— Я подлец!  
"I am a scoundrel!"
> Zero-copula predicate noun in the present: «Я подлец!» = 'I [am] a scoundrel!' — no copula in the present, so the predicate noun «подлец» stands in the nominative beside «я». The bare juxtaposition makes the self-condemnation blunt and absolute.
> «подлец» — scoundrel, base wretch: «Подлец» is a strong moral term — a base, vile, contemptible man — central to Dostoevsky's vocabulary of self-judgement. Ivan flinging it at himself marks the dawning recognition of his own complicity.

— прошептал он про себя.  
he whispered to himself.
> Reflexive «себя» in 'to oneself': «Про себя» ('to/inside himself, silently') uses the reflexive pronoun «себя», which points back to the clause's subject for any person. «Себя» has no nominative; here it follows «про» in the accusative to mean speaking inwardly.

А Федор Павлович, проводив сынка, остался очень доволен.  
As for Fyodor Pavlovich, having seen his little son off, he was left very pleased.
> Perfective past gerund «проводив»: «Проводив сынка» is a perfective past «деепричастие» in «-в»: 'having seen his son off'. It names the prior, completed action sharing Fyodor Pavlovich's subject before he «остался доволен».
> «сынок» — 'little son', here mockingly fond: «Сынка» (genitive of «сынок») is the diminutive of «сын». The suffix «-ок» can be tender, but on Fyodor Pavlovich's lips toward grown Ivan it rings faintly ironic and proprietary — a possessive 'sonny'.
> Scene-shifting «А»: The opening «А» is the contrastive coordinator marking a turn of topic — 'Now as for Fyodor Pavlovich…'. It hinges the narrative away from Ivan on the train back to the house, with no real opposition, only a shift of focus.

Целые два часа чувствовал он себя почти счастливым и попивал коньячок; но вдруг в доме произошло одно предосадное и пренеприятное для всех обстоятельство, мигом повергшее Федора Павловича в большое смятение: Смердяков пошел зачем-то в погреб и упал вниз с верхней ступеньки.  
For two whole hours he felt almost happy and kept sipping his cognac; but suddenly a most vexing and most unpleasant circumstance occurred in the house, one that in an instant threw Fyodor Pavlovich into great consternation: Smerdyakov had gone down into the cellar for something and fallen from the top step.
> «коньячок» — a nice little cognac: «Коньячок» is «коньяк» with the affectionate diminutive «-ок», and «попивал» (the imperfective with «по-») means to sip away contentedly over time. Together they paint Fyodor Pavlovich's cosy, self-indulgent good mood.
> Intensifying prefix «пре-»: «Предосадное» and «пренеприятное» carry the prefix «пре-», which raises an adjective to a superlative-like 'most, exceedingly' (cf. «прекрасный»). Stacked here, they make the 'circumstance' maximally vexing and unpleasant.
> Past active participle «повергшее»: «Повергшее» is a past active participle (perfective) agreeing with neuter «обстоятельство»: 'a circumstance which threw [him]…'. It packs a whole «которое»-clause into one modifier, and governs «в смятение» (accusative of motion into a state).

Хорошо еще, что на дворе случилась в то время Марфа Игнатьевна и вовремя услышала.  
It was a good thing, at least, that Marfa Ignatyevna happened to be in the yard just then and heard him in time.
> Impersonal «хорошо ещё, что…»: «Хорошо ещё, что…» is an impersonal evaluative predicate (no subject, neuter) opening a «что»-clause: 'it was a good thing that…'. «Случилась» here is the perfective with «-ся» meaning 'happened to be'.

Падения она не видела, но зато услышала крик, крик особенный, странный, но ей уже давно известный, — крик эпилептика, падающего в припадке.  
She did not see the fall, but she heard the cry — a peculiar, strange cry, though one long familiar to her — the cry of an epileptic dropping in a fit.
> Compensatory «зато» — 'but on the other hand': «Зато» is a coordinating word meaning 'but to make up for it, on the other hand': she did not see the fall, «но зато услышала» the cry. It offsets a negative with a balancing positive.
> Present active participle «падающего»: «Падающего» is a present active participle agreeing with «эпилептика» in masculine genitive singular: 'of an epileptic [who is] falling in a fit'. The participle compresses the relative clause and freezes the action in mid-collapse.
> Dative of the one to whom it is 'known': «Ей… известный» pairs the short-style adjective «известный» ('known') with the dative «ей» — 'known to her'. The dative names the person to whom the cry is familiar, a neat experiencer construction.

Приключился ли с ним припадок в ту минуту, когда он сходил по ступенькам вниз, так что он, конечно, тотчас же и должен был слететь вниз в бесчувствии, или, напротив, уже от падения и от сотрясения произошел у Смердякова, известного эпилептика, его припадок — разобрать нельзя было, но нашли его уже на дне погреба, в корчах и судорогах, бьющимся и с пеной у рта.  
Whether the fit had come over him at the moment he was going down the steps, so that he must of course have tumbled down at once, senseless — or whether, on the contrary, the fit of Smerdyakov, a known epileptic, had been brought on by the fall and the shock — there was no way to make out; but they found him already at the bottom of the cellar, writhing and convulsing, thrashing about, with foam at his mouth.
> «ли… или…» framing an either/or question: The narrator weighs two possibilities with «ли… или…»: the enclitic «ли» on the first clause and «или» joining the alternative — 'whether the fit came on… or, on the contrary…'. This is the embedded 'whether… or' that «ли» builds.
> Impersonal «нельзя было» + infinitive: «Разобрать нельзя было» ('it was impossible to make out') is an impersonal modal: «нельзя» plus infinitive, with past «было», and no subject. It states the sheer undecidability of which came first, the fit or the fall.
> Instrumental present participle «бьющимся»: «Бьющимся» is a present active participle (with «-ся») in the instrumental, agreeing with «его»: they found him 'thrashing'. The instrumental participle after «найти» describes the state in which someone is found — a vivid, compact resultative.
> «корчи» и «судороги» — writhings and convulsions: «Корчи» (writhings, contortions) and «судороги» (convulsions, spasms) are the clinical-vivid nouns for the seizure, here in the prepositional after «в». The pairing with «с пеной у рта» ('foam at the mouth') gives a starkly physical picture of the fit.

Думали сначала, что он наверно сломал себе что-нибудь, руку или ногу, и расшибся, но, однако, «сберег господь», как выразилась Марфа Игнатьевна: ничего такого не случилось, а только трудно было достать его и вынести из погреба на свет божий.  
At first they thought he had surely broken something, an arm or a leg, and injured himself badly, but "the Lord preserved him," as Marfa Ignatyevna put it: nothing of the sort had happened, only it was hard to get hold of him and carry him up out of the cellar into the light of God's day.
> Idiom «на свет божий» — into God's daylight: «На свет божий» ('into God's light/the light of day') is a set expression for bringing something out into the open air and daylight. Carrying Smerdyakov up «из погреба на свет божий» plays the dark cellar against the light above.
> Reflexive «себе» + non-specific «что-нибудь»: «Сломал себе что-нибудь» uses the dative reflexive «себе» (broke something 'to/on himself', i.e. one of his own limbs) and «что-нибудь», the non-specific indefinite ('anything at all'). «-нибудь» fits the uncertainty of what, if anything, he broke.

Но попросили у соседей помощи и кое-как это совершили.  
But they asked the neighbors for help and somehow managed it.
> «кое-как» — somehow, after a fashion: «Кое-как» means 'somehow or other, with difficulty, anyhow' — getting a thing done clumsily but done. «Кое-как это совершили» ('they somehow managed it') conveys the awkward effort of hauling the convulsing man out.

Находился при всей этой церемонии и сам Федор Павлович, сам помогал, видимо перепуганный и как бы потерявшийся.  
Fyodor Pavlovich himself was present at this whole ceremony, himself helping out, visibly frightened and as if at a loss.
> Intensive «сам» — 'himself': The emphatic pronoun «сам» ('[he] himself') is doubled — «сам Фёдор Павлович, сам помогал» — stressing that the master in person was there and pitching in. «Сам» agrees like an adjective and underscores the surprise of his hands-on involvement.
> Past active participle «потерявшийся» softened by «как бы»: «Потерявшийся» is a perfective past active participle with «-ся» ('having become lost/bewildered'), here in predicate position and hedged by «как бы» ('as if at a loss'). The reflexive «-ся» gives the change-of-state, inward sense.

Больной, однако, в чувство не входил: припадки хоть и прекращались на время, но зато возобновлялись опять, и все заключили, что произойдет то же самое, что и в прошлом году, когда он тоже упал нечаянно с чердака.  
The sick man, however, did not come to: the fits, though they let up for a time, kept returning, and everyone concluded that the same thing would happen as the year before, when he had likewise fallen by accident from the attic.
> Imperfective of a state that won't arrive: «В чувство не входил» ('did not come to / kept not regaining consciousness') uses the imperfective «входил» under negation to stress the continued failure to revive — not a single non-event but a persisting condition.
> Concessive «хоть и… но зато…»: «Хоть и прекращались… но зато возобновлялись» pairs concessive «хоть и» ('although') with the compensatory «но зато' ('but instead'): the fits 'although they let up… on the other hand kept returning'. Both verbs are imperfective for the repeated alternation.
> Perfective future + correlative «то же… что»: «Произойдёт» is a perfective future ('the same thing will happen'), and «то же самое, что и…» is the correlative for 'the same as'. The «и» before «в прошлом году» is the emphatic 'just as', tying the prediction to last year's episode.

Вспомнили, что тогда прикладывали ему к темени льду.  
They recalled that back then they had applied ice to the crown of his head.
> Dative «ему» + partitive genitive «льду»: «Прикладывали ему… льду» pairs the dative «ему» (the affected person) with the partitive genitive «льду» — 'applied [some] ice to him'. The special «-у» partitive on «лёд» names an indefinite quantity, and «к темени» uses «к» + dative for the spot.
> «темя» — the crown of the head: «Темя» (here dative «темени») is the crown or top of the head, an anatomical term. It is one of a small set of neuter nouns in «-мя» (cf. «время», «имя») with an irregular declension.

Ледок в погребе еще нашелся, и Марфа Игнатьевна распорядилась, а Федор Павлович под вечер послал за доктором Герценштубе, который и прибыл немедленно.  
There was still some ice to be found in the cellar, and Marfa Ignatyevna saw to it, while toward evening Fyodor Pavlovich sent for Doctor Herzenstube, who arrived without delay.
> Middle «-ся»: 'some ice turned up': «Нашёлся» is «найти» with «-ся», the middle voice 'was found / turned up [of itself]'. «Ледок» (diminutive of «лёд») as its subject reads as 'a bit of ice happened to be there', no finder named.
> «распорядиться» — to give orders, see to it: «Распорядилась» (perfective, with «-ся») means to make the arrangements, give the necessary orders. Marfa «распорядилась» — she took charge of the ice — showing her as the practical hand in the crisis.

Осмотрев больного тщательно (это был самый тщательный и внимательный доктор во всей губернии, пожилой и почтеннейший старичок), он заключил, что припадок чрезвычайный и «может грозить опасностью», что покамест он, Герценштубе, еще не понимает всего, но что завтра утром, если не помогут теперешние средства, он решится принять другие.  
Having examined the patient carefully (he was the most careful and attentive doctor in the whole province, an elderly and most worthy little old man), he concluded that the fit was extraordinary and "might pose a danger," that for the present he, Herzenstube, did not yet understand the whole of it, but that tomorrow morning, if the current remedies did not help, he would resolve to apply others.
> Perfective past gerund opening the sentence: «Осмотрев» is a perfective past «деепричастие» ('having examined'), fronting the completed prior action before the main verb «заключил». «Больного» is a substantivised adjective ('the patient', animate accusative) — an adjective used as a noun.
> Two superlatives: «самый» vs «-ейший»: The narrator builds superlatives both ways: periphrastic «самый тщательный» ('the most careful') and the bookish suffixal «почтеннейший» ('most worthy'), from «почтенный» + «-ейш-». The «-ейший» form is the elevated, literary superlative.
> «старичок» — a dear little old man: «Старичок» is «старик» with the warm diminutive «-ок»: an affectionately rendered 'little old man'. The narrator's choice tints the worthy doctor with fondness — a recurring tonal device for the kindly Herzenstube.

Больного уложили во флигеле, в комнатке рядом с помещением Григория и Марфы Игнатьевны.  
They laid the sick man down in the outbuilding, in a little room next to the quarters of Grigory and Marfa Ignatyevna.
> «флигель» and the diminutive «комнатка»: A «флигель» is a detached annexe or wing/outbuilding of the main house, where the servants lived. «Комнатке» (prepositional of «комнатка», diminutive of «комната») is a 'little room'; the diminutive makes the servants' quarters feel cramped and modest.
> Indefinite-personal plural 'they laid him down': «Уложили» is a subjectless 3rd-person plural — the indefinite-personal construction — 'they (people) laid him down'. «Больного» is again the substantivised adjective in the animate accusative.

Затем Федор Павлович уже весь день претерпевал лишь несчастие за несчастием: обед сготовила Марфа Игнатьевна, и суп сравнительно с приготовлением Смердякова вышел «словно помои», а курица оказалась до того пересушенною, что и прожевать ее не было никакой возможности.  
After that Fyodor Pavlovich endured all day nothing but one misfortune after another: Marfa Ignatyevna cooked the dinner, and the soup, by comparison with Smerdyakov's making, came out "like dishwater," while the chicken turned out so dried up that there was no possibility of chewing it.
> «X за X-ом» — one after another: «Несчастие за несчастием» ('one misfortune after another') is the distributive pattern: noun in nominative/accusative + «за» + the same noun in the instrumental. It conveys a relentless succession — exactly the cascade of disasters befalling Fyodor Pavlovich.
> Instrumental of comparison after «сравнительно с»: «Сравнительно с приготовлением» ('by comparison with [Smerdyakov's] cooking') uses «с» + instrumental «приготовлением». The construction sets the dishwater-soup against Smerdyakov's accustomed standard, a sly reminder of how the household leans on him.
> «помои» — slops, dishwater: «Помои» (plural only) is dirty washing-up water / kitchen slops fed to pigs. Quoting Fyodor Pavlovich's verdict that the soup came out «словно помои» ('like slops') renders his coarse, fastidious disgust in his own words.
> Genitive of negation under «не было»: «Не было никакой возможности» ('there was no possibility at all') forces the genitive «возможности» after negated «не было», and «никакой» piles on negative concord. The whole frame is impersonal — no subject, just the absence of any way to chew the chicken.

Марфа Игнатьевна на горькие, хотя и справедливые, упреки барина возражала, что курица и без того была уже очень старая, а что сама она в поварах не училась.  
To her master's bitter, though just, reproaches Marfa Ignatyevna retorted that the chicken had been very old to begin with, and that she herself had never trained as a cook.
> Fronted prepositional object + concessive insert: The whole prepositional phrase «на… упрёки барина» ('to her master's reproaches') is fronted before the verb «возражала», topicalising what she answered to. The parenthetical «хотя и справедливые» ('though just') concedes a point mid-phrase, between the adjectives.
> «в поварах» — instrumental-style 'as a cook': «В поварах не училась» ('had not trained as a cook') uses «в» + prepositional plural «поварах», the idiom for being or training in a role/profession (cf. «служить в солдатах»). It is a folk-flavoured way of saying she was never schooled in the cook's trade.

К вечеру вышла другая забота: доложили Федору Павловичу, что Григорий, который с третьего дня расхворался, как раз совсем почти слег, отнялась поясница.  
Toward evening another worry arose: Fyodor Pavlovich was informed that Grigory, who had fallen ill two days before, had now taken almost entirely to his bed — his lower back had given out.
> Indefinite-personal plural + dative addressee: «Доложили» is again a subjectless 3rd-plural ('it was reported, they informed'), with the recipient in the dative «Фёдору Павловичу». This is the neutral way to report news to someone without naming the messenger.
> Relative «который» clause: «Григорий, который… расхворался» tucks a «который»-clause (set off by commas) around the news of Grigory's illness; «который» agrees with «Григорий» in masculine singular and is nominative as the subject of its own clause. «Расхвораться» (with «рас-» + «-ся») means to fall thoroughly ill.
> Middle «-ся»: the back 'gave out': «Отнялась поясница» ('his lower back gave out / went numb') uses «отняться» with «-ся» in its intransitive, change-of-state sense — a body part losing power of itself. «Поясница» is the nominative subject of this small impersonal-feeling clause.

Федор Павлович окончил свой чай как можно пораньше и заперся один в доме.  
Fyodor Pavlovich finished his tea as early as he could and shut himself up alone in the house.
> «как можно» + comparative — 'as … as possible': «Как можно пораньше» ('as early as possible') is the fixed «как можно» + comparative construction. «Пораньше» is the comparative «раньше» softened by «по-» ('a bit earlier'); the pattern recurs in s178 «как можно скорее».
> Reflexive «запереться» — shut oneself in: «Заперся» is «запереть» with «-ся», the reflexive 'locked/shut himself in'. The «-ся» turns the action back on the subject, sealing Fyodor Pavlovich alone in the house in tense expectation.

Был он в страшном и тревожном ожидании.  
He was in a terrible and anxious state of expectation.
> Inverted «был он» for narrative weight: Putting «был» before the subject «он» is a deliberate literary inversion that opens the clause on the state itself — 'In a terrible expectation was he'. The free word order lets Dostoevsky front the mood and trail the subject after it.

Дело в том, что как раз в этот вечер ждал он прибытия Грушеньки уже почти наверно; по крайней мере получил он от Смердякова, еще рано поутру, почти заверение, что «они уж несомненно обещали прибыть-с».  
The fact was that on that very evening he was expecting Grushenka's arrival as almost a certainty; at the very least he had received from Smerdyakov, early in the morning, all but an assurance that "they had undoubtedly promised to come, sir."
> Genitive object of «ждать»: «Ждать» characteristically takes the genitive of the thing awaited: «ждал… прибытия Грушеньки» ('awaited Grushenka's arrival'). «Прибытия» is genitive both as the object of «ждать» and head of the possessive «Грушеньки».
> «Грушенька» — the diminutive of Аграфена: «Грушенька» is the tender diminutive (Аграфена → Груша → Грушенька) of the woman both Fyodor Pavlovich and Dmitry desire. The «-енька» suffix saturates her name with affection and longing — the very lure drawing the old man to the window.
> The servile particle «-с»: The clitic «-с» appended to «прибыть» (a contraction of old «сударь», 'sir') is the deferential 'sir-particle' Smerdyakov sprinkles through his speech. Quoted here, «прибыть-с» marks his oily, servile register — and Dostoevsky uses it to characterise him throughout.

Сердце неугомонного старичка билось тревожно, он ходил по пустым своим комнатам и прислушивался.  
The restless little old man's heart beat anxiously; he wandered through his empty rooms and listened.
> «неугомонный» + «старичок» — the restless old fellow: «Неугомонный» means restless, never-quieting, irrepressible; coupled with the diminutive «старичок» it paints Fyodor Pavlovich as a fidgety, lecherous 'little old man'. The pairing carries the narrator's faintly mocking affection.
> «по» + dative of wandering through: «Ходил по… комнатам» uses «по» with the dative plural to express moving about over/through a space — pacing 'around his empty rooms'. «Ходил» is the multidirectional motion verb, fitting his aimless to-and-fro.

Надо было держать ухо востро: мог где-нибудь сторожить ее Дмитрий Федорович, а как она постучится в окно (Смердяков еще третьего дня уверил Федора Павловича, что передал ей где и куда постучаться), то надо было отпереть двери как можно скорее и отнюдь не задерживать ее ни секунды напрасно в сенях, чтобы чего, боже сохрани, не испугалась и не убежала.  
He had to keep his ears open: Dmitry Fyodorovich might be lying in wait for her somewhere, and the moment she knocked at the window (Smerdyakov had assured Fyodor Pavlovich two days before that he had told her where and how to knock), the door had to be opened as quickly as possible, and she must on no account be kept waiting even a needless second in the entryway, lest — God forbid — she take fright and run off.
> Impersonal «надо было» + idiom: «Надо было» ('it was necessary') is an impersonal predicate of obligation with no subject; the implied 'he' would stand in the dative. «Держать ухо востро» is the set idiom 'to keep one's ear sharp / be on the alert', with «востро» an old short-form adverb ('sharp').
> Emphatic negation «отнюдь не»: «Отнюдь не задерживать» ('on no account to detain') uses the categorical negator «отнюдь не», far stronger than plain «не» — 'by no means, absolutely not'. It heightens the urgency of not keeping Grushenka waiting a needless second.
> «чтобы» + past-form irrealis for purpose: «Чтобы… не испугалась и не убежала» is the purpose construction: «чтобы» plus the past-tense form, which carries the irrealis (the hidden «бы» fused into «чтобы»). It states the feared outcome to be prevented — 'lest she take fright and run off'.
> «сени» — the entry passage: «Сени» (here prepositional «в сенях») is the cold entrance-passage or vestibule of a traditional Russian house, between the porch and the heated rooms. It is the threshold space where Grushenka must not be left to hesitate.

Хлопотливо было Федору Павловичу, но никогда еще сердце его не купалось в более сладкой надежде: почти ведь наверно можно было сказать, что в этот раз она уже непременно придет!..  
It was a fretful business for Fyodor Pavlovich, but never yet had his heart bathed in a sweeter hope: this time one could say almost for certain that she would surely come!..
> Dative-subject impersonal of feeling/effort: «Хлопотливо было Фёдору Павловичу» ('it was a fretful business for Fyodor Pavlovich') is a textbook dative-experiencer construction: neuter predicate «хлопотливо было», no nominative subject, the affected person in the dative. Russian frames his harried state without making him the grammatical agent.
> Negative concord + analytic comparative «более»: «Никогда ещё… не купалось» shows negative concord (the «ни»-adverb «никогда» still needs «не» on the verb). «В более сладкой надежде» uses the attributive comparative «более сладкой» ('sweeter'), the analytic comparative declined with its noun in the prepositional.
> Appealing particle «ведь» + perfective future: «Ведь» appeals to shared certainty ('after all, surely'), coaxing the reader into Fyodor Pavlovich's hope, while «придёт» is the perfective future of «прийти' — a single, sure arrival. The stacked «почти… наверно… непременно» almost overinsists, betraying his anxious wishfulness.
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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.