Он слегка открыл дверь.

to open

Breakdown of Он слегка открыл дверь.

• дверь: the door
• он: he
• слегка: slightly

Questions & Answers about Он слегка открыл дверь.

Why is the verb открыл and not открыть?

Открыть is the infinitive, meaning to open.
In the sentence, we need a finite verb, not the dictionary form, because the action actually happened.

• открыть = to open
• открыл = opened (past tense, masculine singular)

So Он слегка открыл дверь means He slightly opened the door / He opened the door a little.

Why does открыл end in -л?

In Russian, the past tense is usually formed with -л.

For the verb открыть, the past tense forms are:

• он открыл = he opened
• она открыла = she opened
• оно открыло = it opened
• они открыли = they opened

So the -л is a normal marker of the past tense, and here the form is masculine because it goes with он.

Why is the pronoun он used here?

Он means he.

Russian often allows the subject pronoun to be omitted if it is clear from context, so in some situations you could also just say:

• Слегка открыл дверь.

But using он makes the subject explicit. It can help with clarity, contrast, or emphasis.