4

I found these two recently in different sources:

Она уже не маленькая, если что.

(talking about their daughter, who wanted to move to America)

Я пойду и побью его. - Он 5 лет занимался боксом, если что.

The only reference I found for если что was with случится, i.e. if anything happens. What is the speaker trying to say in these examples?

2 Answers 2

11

The first can be translated as:

She is not a kid, just in case you forgot.

or depending of a context:

She is not a kid, (she will manage to solve the problems) if anything happens.

The second is:

He has 5 year boxing experience, just in case you did not know.

Or maybe "if you know what I mean" will better translate "если что" here.

The usage is slightly non-standard, but understandable.

3
  • Thank you! When you say non-standard, you mean most people wouldn't use it?
    – CocoPop
    Oct 14, 2014 at 15:34
  • 1
    I think the standard way is using "между прочим" instead. Some people may use even "на минуточку", which is also non-standard, but widely used in colloquial speech: gramota.ru/slovari/argo/53_7741.
    – Artemix
    Oct 14, 2014 at 15:44
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    Got it! (1) "She's not a child, you know"; and (2) "He's been boxing for five years, mind you." Thanks again for your wonderful explanations :)
    – CocoPop
    Oct 14, 2014 at 22:20
1

It's a turn of speech combining the meanings of "if something (unclear, misunderstood, happens, goes wrong, etc)". Russians love to use such unspecific phrases with different meanings. See also: Ну ты заходи, если что

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  • On the other hand, it seems to be not done to just say "Это зовисит." Dec 6, 2014 at 11:59
  • @Raskolnikov, please, check the spelling of words, before you write it on educational site like this one. I'm talking about the work "зовисит", which is normally written as "зависит". Dec 8, 2014 at 14:23

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