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Questions & Answers about Картофель готовится медленно, поэтому нужно подождать.
Why is готовится in the singular and with the suffix -ся? Does this make it passive?
The form готовится is the 3rd-person singular of the reflexive (–ся) verb готовиться, which here acts like a middle voice or impersonal passive. It literally means “is getting cooked” or “cooks itself,” so the agent (whoever is cooking) is not specified. If you want to name the cook, you’d use an active construction (e.g. “Мы готовим картофель…”).
Why is медленно used here? How is it formed?
медленно is an adverb meaning “slowly.” It’s formed from the adjective медленный (“slow”) by replacing the ending -ый with -о (a common pattern for turning adjectives into adverbs in Russian).
What is the function of поэтому, and why is there a comma before it?
поэтому means “therefore” or “so,” and it introduces a result clause. In Russian, when one main clause connects to another with поэтому, you place a comma before поэтому just as you would before “therefore” in English.
What kind of construction is нужно подождать? Why is there no explicit subject?
нужно + infinitive is an impersonal construction expressing necessity (“it is necessary to…”). There is no grammatical subject; the idea is generic (“one needs to wait,” “you need to wait,” or “we need to wait”). If you want to specify who, you can add a dative pronoun: нам нужно подождать (“we need to wait”).
Why is the infinitive подождать (perfective) used instead of the imperfective ждать?
Using the perfective подождать emphasizes completing the action of waiting—i.e. “wait until it’s done.” The imperfective ждать would just mean “be waiting” without focusing on reaching the end point.
Can I replace нужно with надо or следует? Are there style or meaning differences?
Yes. надо подождать and следует подождать both convey necessity.
- надо is very colloquial and common in speech.
- следует is a bit more formal or bookish.
Meaning-wise, they’re near-synonyms; choose based on register.
Why is картофель in the singular when we usually cook multiple potatoes?
In Russian, many foods (like картофель, мясо, хлеб) are treated as mass nouns and appear in the singular even if you mean a portion or multiple pieces. Context tells you you’re cooking enough for everyone, but grammatically it stays singular.