"Где мне найти пиво?"
Translation:Where can I find beer?
November 28, 2015
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yyzpanda
709
I know you can't translate Russian to English literally but could anyone explain this structure and use of "мне найти"?
I think that could be possible, but I think the use of «мне» here is related to the fact that «найти» is a perfective verb, and can only be conjugated to future or past tense and not present -- hence the use of мне + infinitive so that it can be used in present tense.
«находить», the imperfective 'find' verb, which does have a present tense conjugation, cannot be used here, as this expression is not concerned with the process of the action, but simply the outcome of the action of finding beer. See https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian/Verbal_Aspect