Врач определил причину приступа.

the doctor

Breakdown of Врач определил причину приступа.

• причина: the reason
• определить: to determine; define (perfective)
• приступ: the attack; episode (medical)

Questions & Answers about Врач определил причину приступа.

Why does причину end in -у?

Because причину is the direct object of the verb определил (determined / identified), so it is in the accusative case.

The noun is:

• причина = cause, reason

Its forms are:

• nominative: причина
• accusative: причину

So:

• Врач определил причину приступа.
• literally: The doctor determined the cause of the attack/seizure.

Why does приступа end in -а?

Because приступа is in the genitive singular.

Here, Russian uses the genitive to express of the attack / of the seizure:

• причина приступа = the cause of the attack

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• причина болезни = the cause of the illness
• начало урока = the beginning of the lesson
• конец фильма = the end of the film

So приступа depends on причину and tells us the cause of what?

What does определил mean here? Is it really defined?