Learn Hardcore Russian: Я подготовил подарок для друга на праздник. - I prepared a gift for a friend for the celebration.

Подготовил is the masculine past tense, perfective form of подготовить, meaning “prepared” or “arranged.” Its perfective aspect shows that the action is complete, and the masculine ending agrees with the subject Я (I), indicating that the speaker is male.

Why is the noun подарок unchanged in its form, and what case is it in?

Подарок is the direct object of the sentence and is in the accusative case. In Russian, masculine inanimate nouns like подарок have an accusative form that is identical to their nominative form; therefore, the word appears unchanged.

What role does the prepositional phrase для друга play, and why is друга in that form?

The phrase для друга shows the beneficiary of the action—it means “for a friend.” The preposition для always governs the genitive case, so друга is the genitive form of друг. This construction tells us who the gift is intended for.

Why is the preposition на used in на праздник, and what does it signify in this context?

The preposition на is used with праздник in the accusative case to indicate the occasion or purpose for which the gift was prepared—it means “for the holiday” or “for the celebration.” Unlike для, which marks the beneficiary, на here highlights the event connected to the action.

Could the sentence be rephrased as подготовил другу подарок instead of подготовил подарок для друга? If so, what difference does this make?

Yes, rephrasing the sentence as подготовил другу подарок is grammatically correct. In that version, другу is in the dative case, directly marking the recipient of the gift. Both forms communicate that the gift is meant for a friend, but using для друга (genitive) can slightly emphasize the purpose or intended beneficiary, whereas the dative construction focuses more on the person receiving the gift.