Questions & Answers about Он решил избавиться от старых вещей.
Why is решил used here, and what form is it?
Решил is the past tense masculine singular form of решить = to decide.
It matches он because Russian past tense agrees with the subject in gender and number:
- он решил = he decided
- она решила = she decided
- они решили = they decided
So in this sentence, он решил literally means he decided.
Why is избавиться in the infinitive?
After решить in the sense of to decide to do something, Russian normally uses an infinitive:
- решил уйти = decided to leave
- решил купить = decided to buy
- решил избавиться = decided to get rid of
So the structure is:
он решил + infinitive
That is the standard way to say he decided to ...
What does избавиться mean, and how is it different from избавить?