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Tебе и решать. === It's up to you (to decide).

While I understand the meaning of the expression, its grammatical construction eludes me. Or more specifically, some elements seem to be lacking as is:

Tебе === to/for you
и === emphasising the following verb
решать === decide

Q1. Do we have here an impersonal, omitted subject?

Q2. Is the verb "решать" alone enough to express the idea of "to + infinitive(decide)" in English?

Q3. I'd expected to see the perfective "решить" used instead: in the sense of deciding something once and for all. I wonder why the imperfective "решать" is the right word to choose here?

Q4. Are there other expressions that follow this "тебе и решать" word order? Or is this a one-off instance?

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  • It's for you to decide. Тебе--for you
    – VCH250
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:02
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    I would say that "и" doesn't emphasize the following verb here, but expresses speakers's conviction that what he proposes is the only proper/logical solution. You are to decide. Who else?
    – AlexVB
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:35
  • i'm not sure of the grammatical roots of this construct but what perfectly fits in it is the verb надлежит which requires exactly Dative case, Тебе и решать = Тебе надлежит и решать, so this might be a case of a lost (consistently omitted and so forgotten) verb... semantically надлежит is a modal verb denoting necessity or obligation so essentially the phrase can be interpreted as you're the one who should decide... AlexB's version "You are to decide" above also highlights the tenor of obligation... it's only used in the context of impending necessity
    – Баян Купи-ка
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:59
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    The и makes me uneasy. I would say, the context is something like: Это твоя жизнь. Тебе и решать. This means that "[specifically] you are in charge, [because <something in previous sentence>]."
    – Oleg Lobachev
    Feb 17, 2018 at 21:06

2 Answers 2

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1Do we have here an impersonal, omitted subject?

No. Russian impersonal sentences don't have subjects like "it" in English.

Q2. Is the verb "решать" alone enough to express the idea of "to + infinitive(decide)" in English?

Yes, решать expresses the same idea.

Q3. I'd expected to see the perfective "решить" used instead: in the sense of deciding something once and for all. I wonder why the imperfective "решать" is the right word to choose here?

No, you can't use perfective here,because it's a general statement but it's possible after "нужно/надо решить" or a peculiar task.

Q4. Are there other expressions that follow this "тебе и решать" word order? Or is this a one-off instance?

You can make the sentence longer explaining what is to be solved.

Тебе решать, ехать в Москву или нет.

I think there's a limited choice of other verbs, mainly synonyms. What comes to mind is

"Тебе выбирать", perhaps sometimes "делать, выполнять".You can use other pronouns or nouns instead of "тебе" though.

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  • Hi. Does the same go for: "я знаю, что все решать вам"? === "Deciding everything is (up) to you"?
    – Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
    Feb 22, 2018 at 3:10
  • Yes, it's the same.
    – V.V.
    Feb 22, 2018 at 5:13
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Q4. Are there other expressions that follow this "тебе и решать" word order? Or is this a one-off instance?

This construction, i.e. pronoun in dative + imperfective infinitive verb, may be used with any pronoun as well as with various verbs. For example it occurs in such phrase:

  • Вы много чего придумали, но мне рисовать == You have suggested a lot of things, but I should paint it.

You may swap words, so рисовать мне, решать тебе also accepted.

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  • Hi. So more precisely, is it more like "you/I/he should do something"? And in this case: "you should decide"?
    – Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:08
  • "It's up to you to decide " is the correct interpretation.
    – V.V.
    Feb 17, 2018 at 20:30

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