Word
Мы практически закончили.
Meaning
We have practically finished.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Мы практически закончили.
Why does закончили end in -ли?
Because the subject is мы (we), which is plural.
In the Russian past tense, verbs agree with the subject in number, and in the singular they also agree in gender:
- я закончил — I finished (masculine speaker)
- я закончила — I finished (feminine speaker)
- оно закончило — it finished
- мы закончили — we finished
So -ли is the normal plural past-tense ending.
What is the infinitive of закончили?
The infinitive is закончить, meaning to finish.
So:
- закончить — to finish
- мы закончили — we finished / we have finished
This is the perfective verb, which matters a lot in Russian.
Why is it закончили and not заканчивали?