Breakdown of Мы обсудили определённый план перед началом проекта.
мы
we
перед
before
проект
the project
план
the plan
Questions & Answers about Мы обсудили определённый план перед началом проекта.
What does определённый mean in this sentence, and why is it used instead of конкретный or этот?
определённый means certain, specific, or a particular. It emphasizes that the plan was singled out or specified beforehand. конкретный focuses more on being concrete or detailed, while этот is a demonstrative meaning this. Using определённый signals that you had a distinct plan in mind, without pointing to it as “this one right here.”
Why is план in the accusative case without changing its ending?
план is a masculine inanimate noun. In Russian, the accusative singular of inanimate nouns is identical to the nominative: план. You only see a different ending if the noun is animate (e.g., брат → брата) or plural.
Why do we use обсудили (perfective) instead of обсуждали (imperfective)?
обсудили is perfective past, indicating a completed action: “we discussed (and finished discussing).”
обсуждали is imperfective, implying an ongoing, habitual, or unfinished action: “we were discussing” or “we used to discuss.” The perfective обсудили shows that the discussion was fully carried out before the project began.