Breakdown of Листья начинают падать с деревьев осенью.
дерево
the tree
осень
the autumn
с
from
лист
the leaf
начинать
to start
падать
to fall
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Questions & Answers about Листья начинают падать с деревьев осенью.
What grammatical case is листья in, and why is it plural?
листья is in the nominative plural case. It functions as the subject of the sentence and refers to multiple leaves (not just one).
Why is the plural form of лист here листья instead of the regular листы?
When лист means “leaf” (on a tree or plant), it has an irregular plural листья. The form листы is used when лист means “sheet” (of paper, metal, etc.).
Why is начинают followed by the infinitive падать rather than a finite verb form?
In Russian, verbs of beginning (like начинать, “to start”) are followed by an infinitive to show what action is starting. Thus начинают падать literally means “they start to fall.”
Why is the imperfective падать used here instead of the perfective упасть?
Because начинают describes the onset of an ongoing process, it pairs with the imperfective verb падать. The perfective упасть conveys a single, completed event and doesn’t fit naturally after начинать.
What case is деревьев, and why is the preposition с used instead of из or от?
деревьев is in the genitive plural. The preposition с (“from, off”) with genitive denotes movement off a surface. из would imply coming out of an enclosed space; от stresses moving away from something.
Why is осенью in the instrumental case, and can it be moved to the beginning of the sentence?
Many time-of-year words in Russian use the instrumental case without a preposition. осенью means “in autumn.” Because Russian word order is flexible, Осенью листья начинают падать с деревьев is equally correct, with a bit more emphasis on “in autumn.”
What nuance changes if I say Листья падают с деревьев осенью without начинают?
Without начинают, you simply state a habitual fact (“Leaves fall from the trees in autumn”). Adding начинают emphasizes the moment when the falling begins, focusing on the start of the process.
Could I use опадать instead of падать when talking about leaves?
Yes. опадать specifically means “to fall off” (of leaves, petals, etc.). Листья начинают опадать с деревьев осенью is perfectly natural and slightly more precise in describing leaves detaching.
What are the stress patterns for листья and деревьев?
листья is stressed on the second syllable: ли́сьтя [lees-TYA].
деревьев is stressed on the first syllable: де́ревьев [DYEH-ryef-yev].