Breakdown of На семинаре несколько слушателей задали вопросы о договоре.
на
at
вопрос
the question
о
about
задать
to ask
несколько
several
слушатель
the listener
семинар
the seminar
договор
the contract
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Questions & Answers about На семинаре несколько слушателей задали вопросы о договоре.
Why is на семинаре in the prepositional case?
The preposition на when indicating location (like “at a seminar”) always takes the prepositional case. That’s why семинар becomes семинаре.
Why does несколько take the genitive plural слушателей instead of nominative?
Несколько is a quantifier that governs the genitive plural. It expresses “several” or “a few,” so слушатели (nominative) changes to слушателей (genitive plural).
Why is the verb form задали plural and in the past tense?
In Russian, past-tense verbs agree with the subject in number and gender. Here, the subject is несколько слушателей (plural), so the past-tense perfective of задать is задали (plural).
Why is вопросы in the accusative plural here?
Вопросы is the direct object of задали (“asked”), so it takes the accusative plural. For inanimate nouns like вопрос, accusative plural equals nominative plural, hence вопросы.
Why is о договоре in the prepositional case?
The preposition о (meaning “about”) always requires the prepositional case. Therefore договор becomes договоре.
Could you use спросили о договоре instead of задали вопросы о договоре?
Yes. Спросили о договоре means “asked about the contract” in a more general way. Задали вопросы о договоре literally “posed questions about the contract,” which emphasizes the specific questions that were asked.
What’s the difference between несколько слушателей and много слушателей?
- Несколько means “several” or “a few” (a small, unspecified number).
- Много means “many” (a large number).
Both quantifiers govern the genitive plural (слушателей).
Can the word order change? For example, Несколько слушателей на семинаре задали вопросы о договоре.
Yes. Russian word order is quite flexible. Starting with несколько слушателей shifts the emphasis onto who did the action, while placing на семинаре first emphasizes the setting.
What’s the aspect difference between задавали and задали?
- Задавали is the imperfective past (“were asking,” ongoing or repeated action).
- Задали is the perfective past (“asked” once, completed action).
In this sentence the perfective задали is used because the questions were asked as a single, completed event.
Can you omit несколько and just say Слушатели задали вопросы о договоре на семинаре?
Yes. Removing несколько changes “several listeners” to simply “listeners.” The sentence still makes perfect sense, but you lose the nuance of “a few” or “several.”