Breakdown of На семинаре несколько слушателей задали вопросы о договоре.
на
at
вопрос
the question
о
about
задать
to ask
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 becomes .