Word
Он может прочитать книгу за ночь.
Meaning
He can read a book overnight.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Он может прочитать книгу за ночь.
What does может mean in this context?
может is the 3rd person singular present of мочь (to be able to, can). It expresses ability, so Он может прочитать… translates as He can read…
Why is прочитать used instead of читать?
прочитать is the perfective form of читать, indicating completion of the action (finishing the book). читать is imperfective and only describes an ongoing or habitual action. To stress that he will actually finish reading, we use прочитать.
What case is книгу and why?
книгу is the accusative singular of книга. It marks the direct object of прочитать (the thing being read).
What does за ночь mean and why do we use за + accusative here?
The preposition за with the accusative indicates the time span required to complete an action. за ночь therefore means within one night or overnight.
Could we use instead of ?