# When I pass the drugstore I shall buy some cough drops.



## Ali Smith

Hi,

What would be the most idiomatic way of saying the following?

When I pass the drugstore I shall buy some cough drops.

My guess:

Когда я буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля.

Thanks!


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## Vovan

Ali Smith said:


> Когда я буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю табпетки от кашля.


Almost it, but drop "я" to sound perfectly natural:
_Когда буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля._​


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## Ali Smith

Thanks. Would the following have worked too?

Когда пройду мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля.

Or would it have meant something else?


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## Vovan

Well, it kind of works, but in a special context. 
You could say that to your partner-in-crime so that (s)he knows the details of your plan. 
On a serious note, the sentence looks absolutely normal as part of talking to yourself (so that you don't forget to buy the pills).

(Note: таб*л*етки.)


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## Vovan

Just in case: if, for some reason, the intended meaning is "When I _have passed_ the drugstore, I'll buy some cough drops" (which is an odd thing to say!), you should use "пройти" without "мимо":
_Когда пройду аптеку, куплю таблетки от кашля._​


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## Awwal12

Ali Smith said:


> Thanks. Would the following have worked too?
> 
> Когда пройду мимо аптеки, куплю табпетки от кашля.


Not really, to be frank. "Когда пройду мимо" is, basically, "by the moment I'll (already) pass", which makes no logical sense. "Когда буду проходить" implies that the "passing" will be in progress, unfinished, which is exactly what you need.


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## Ali Smith

Awwal12 said:


> Not really, to be frank. "Когда пройду мимо" is, basically, "by the moment I'll (already) pass", which makes no logical sense. "Когда буду проходить" implies that the "passing" will be in progress, unfinished, which is exactly what you need.


Thank you for your reply! It's cleared everything up.

For the same reason would it make no sense to say:

Когда приду к вам, позвоню в звонок.
"When I come over to your place I will ring the bell."

Would I have to say the following instead?

Когда буду приходить к вам, позвоню в звонок.


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## AmiraDF

"Когда приду к вам, позвоню в звонок" sounds right. IMHO because you'll ring the bell AFTER you come to the door, NOT on your way to the door...


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## Awwal12

Ali Smith said:


> For the same reason would it make no sense to say:
> 
> Когда приду к вам, позвоню в звонок.


Well, that one will work, since when you're standing before the door, you've already come, basically. "Когда буду приходить" sounds generally weird in any non-iterative sense. Нowever, compare "когда буду подходить (=приближаться) к вам".


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## Vovan

While basically agreeing with the others on the apparent lack of logic in *"Когда пройду мимо, сделаю..." *intended to mean "When/while I'm passing by, I'll do...", I must say that people occasionally say/write that:
_Я скорчу злое лицо, когда пройду мимо. _(Уильям Шекспир, "Ромео и Джульета", в перев. Бориса Пастернака)​_Я вот сейчас думаю, что когда пройду мимо нее, то улыбнусь ей так же хорошо, как перед зеркалом._ (Современная проза, изд. "Эксмо".)​

The "logical" usage certainly coexists (and most likely dominates):
_Часто бывает так, что прохожу мимо машины, брелок ее не видит, и только когда пройду мимо, появляется "пик". _(Интернет.)​


According to the dictionary,  "пройти" means "to have passed" with all certainty only when it is used transitively:


> *пройти
> 1. *Идя, совершить путь мимо кого-, чего-л., куда-л. или где-л.
> _{Лиза} попробовала было пройти по двору босая, но дерн колол ее нежные ноги. _(Пушкин, "Барышня-крестьянка".)​|| _перех._
> Идя, миновать, оставить позади.
> _Пройти лес._​|| _перех._
> Идя, пропустить нужное место, не остановиться, не повернуть там, где нужно.
> _Пройти поворот дороги. _​



And it looks like the intransitive "пройду мимо" is sometimes employed to speak about your plan "to do something while passing by". At least, colloquially.


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## Saltie

Vovan said:


> _Когда пройду аптеку, куплю таблетки от кашля._​


It sounds as if you are going to buy your pills somewhere else, after you have passed by the drugstore without entering it.


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## Saltie

Ali Smith said:


> Thank you for your reply! It's cleared everything up.
> 
> For the same reason would it make no sense to say:
> 
> Когда приду к вам, позвоню в звонок.
> "When I come over to your place I will ring the bell."
> 
> Would I have to say the following instead?
> 
> Когда буду приходить к вам, позвоню в звонок.


Когда приду к вам, позвоню в звонок. - It's a single occasion, "When I come over to your place I will ring the bell."
Когда буду приходить к вам, буду звонить в звонок. - It's a habit in the future or a regular action that you're planning for the future, "Every time I come over to your place I will ring the bell. (Sorry, I'm not sure if I've conveyed the same idea in English correctly)


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## Saltie

Vovan said:


> but drop "я" to sound perfectly natural:
> _Когда буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля._​


I would rate it as follows:
_1) Когда буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля. - the best
2) Когда я буду проходить мимо аптеки, куплю таблетки от кашля. - good and normal
3) Я куплю таблетки от кашля, когда буду проходить мимо аптеки. - the best
4) Куплю таблетки от кашля, когда буду проходить мимо аптеки. - good and normal
5) Куплю таблетки от кашля, когда я буду проходить мимо аптеки. - acceptable, but a bit odd

If said in normal intonation, 1) and 2) sound like you're saying what you are going to do when you pass by the drugstore (implying you're going to enter it and buy your pills), while 3) (and especially 3), 4) and 5) sound like you're explaining when or where you're going to buy your pills (in the drugstore on your way).
But you can change that tint by changing your intonation._


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## nizzebro

Ali Smith said:


> Когда буду приходить к вам, позвоню в звонок.


You are probably trying to portray your approaching as ongoing, but you need a door call which cannot be pressed while walking or approaching, isn't it? Your motion should be completed unless we talk about a habitual cycle (каждый раз, когда буду приходить, буду звонить).

Besides that, приходить/прийти is a discrete toggle of states (at least when it's about a human person coming). You cannot say e.g.  'I can see him coming' in Russian - we either say  'он идёт' (lit. he is walking) or 'он пришёл' - which claims that he is already there, even if he is still walking.


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## elroy

Vovan said:


> drop "я" to sound perfectly natural


I'm surprised. I thought it was always more natural to include я.


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## nizzebro

elroy said:


> I thought it was always more natural to include я.


It is context-dependent; if the context implies your personal actions are the topic of narration, it is quite natural to drop the pronoun.  The formulae "when I will be ..." itself assumes that its purpose is only to bring more details about actions declared in previous sentences; this is true also in the case when someone suddenly starts voicing their internal thoughts. It is not an introduction as such. Another deal is when the pronoun is used for a contrast (i.e. me not them), it is stressed in speech then.


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## Vovan

elroy said:


> I thought it was always more natural to include я.



The issue of omitting personal pronouns in the nominative hasn't been exhaustively researched, but some observations could still be made.



Диалоги​#*1*​*А:* (Ты) купишь мне мороженое?​*Б:* Куплю. / Не куплю.​​#*2*​*А:* Чем (ты) планируешь сегодня заняться?​*Б:* (Я) приготовлю обед, а когда закончу, схожу прогуляться.​​#*3*​*А:* (Ты) купишь мне мороженое?​*Б:* Я куплю. А _ты _тогда (=в свою очередь) помой всю посуду, окей? ("Ты" is stressed.)​​#*4*​*А:* (Ты) купишь мне мороженое?​*Б:* Я не куплю. Может быть, папа вечером купит.​

​In dialogue #1, it would be _very _odd for the second speaker to use "я" _unless _there is a continuation that _contrasts_ "я" and "ты" or another personal pronoun (see #3 and #4). So one of the factors of retaining a personal pronoun in the nominative is the speaker's *need for emphasis, or lack thereof*.

Using "я" a few times in a row by the second speaker in #2 seems to me virtually impossible. So another factor at play is *obvious verbal redundancy* in some types of sentences (and contexts - see the previous post by Nizzebro).


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## Sola Avis

Вообще, носитель, мне кажется, сказал бы просто "Когда буду рядом с аптекой, куплю таблетки от кашля". Или вообще "Буду рядом с аптекой - куплю таблетки от кашля". 
Глагол "проходить" здесь не ошибочен, но на мой взляд избыточен.


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