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Questions & Answers about Она попросила разрешения.
Why does попросила end in -ла?
Because it is past tense feminine singular. In Russian, past-tense verbs agree with the subject in gender and number:
- он попросил
- она попросила
- оно попросило
- они попросили
Since the subject here is она, the verb must be попросила.
What is the dictionary form of попросила, and how is it different from просила?
The dictionary form is попросить. It is a perfective verb, so it presents the action as a completed single request.
Its imperfective partner is просить:
- Она попросила разрешения = she made the request / asked once
- Она просила разрешения = she was asking, used to ask, or asked repeatedly
In English, both may simply be translated as asked, so this is an important Russian aspect difference to notice.
Where is the word for in this sentence?