Breakdown of Я случайно сделал ошибку и быстро её исправил.
я
I
и
and
быстро
quickly
её
it
сделать
to make
ошибка
the mistake
случайно
accidentally
исправить
to correct
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Questions & Answers about Я случайно сделал ошибку и быстро её исправил.
Why is it сделал and исправил? What if the speaker is female?
In Russian the past tense agrees with the subject’s gender and number. With я:
- male speaker: я случайно сделал ошибку и быстро её исправил.
- female speaker: я случайно сделала ошибку и быстро её исправила.
- plural subjects: мы/они случайно сделали ошибку и быстро её исправили.
Why is it ошибку and not ошибка?
Ошибка is a feminine noun in -а. In the accusative singular, these nouns take -у/-ю: ошибк-а → ошибк-у. It’s the direct object of сделал and исправил, so accusative is required.
What exactly does её mean here? Could it mean “her”?
Её is the unstressed object pronoun “her/it (feminine).” Here it clearly means “it,” referring back to the feminine noun ошибка. Without a feminine antecedent, её could indeed mean “her,” but context disambiguates it.
Can I put её somewhere else in the sentence?
Yes. Word order is flexible with slight changes in emphasis:
- …и быстро её исправил (neutral; very common).
- …и быстро исправил её (also neutral).
- …и её быстро исправил (emphasizes that particular thing). All are grammatical.
Why are the verbs perfective (сделал, исправил)?
Perfective past marks single, completed events and moves the narrative forward: you made a mistake and then corrected it. Imperfective would suggest process or repetition:
- Я иногда делал ошибки и долго их исправлял (habitual).
- Я делал ошибку и пытался её исправлять (ongoing processes).
Could I say Я случайно ошибся instead of сделал ошибку?
Yes. Ошибся (from ошибиться) is a very natural alternative. But then your second clause must change, because ошибся has no direct object:
- Я случайно ошибся и быстро это исправил (I quickly fixed it/that).
- Я случайно ошибся, но быстро всё исправил. Using её after ошибся would be odd because there’s no feminine object in that version.
Is сделать ошибку the best collocation? What about совершить/допустить ошибку?
All three are correct:
- сделать ошибку — neutral, everyday.
- совершить ошибку — more formal/literary, sounds weightier.
- допустить ошибку — common in formal or technical contexts (reports, rules).
Difference between случайно and по ошибке?
Both can translate “by accident,” but:
- случайно = accidentally/by chance (adverb).
- по ошибке = by mistake (set phrase), often for choosing the wrong target: по ошибке отправил письмо не туда.
In many contexts they’re interchangeable; случайно is broader.
Why быстро and not скоро?
- быстро = quickly (speed of the action).
- скоро = soon (time until it happens).
Here you mean you corrected it fast, so быстро is the natural choice. Скоро исправил would mean “corrected it soon (afterwards),” which is a different nuance.
Is the comma before и needed?
No. This is one simple sentence with two homogeneous predicates sharing the same subject (я). Russian does not place a comma before и in this structure: Я … сделал … и … исправил. A comma would be required if there were separate clauses with different subjects.
Can I change the adverb positions, like я сделал ошибку случайно or я исправил её быстро?
Yes, but neutral Russian prefers adverbs before the verb or right after focus words:
- Most natural: Я случайно сделал ошибку, …и быстро её исправил.
- Я сделал ошибку случайно is possible but can sound like an afterthought or contrastive focus.
Can I drop я?
Russian is not a pro‑drop language. You keep я unless the subject is crystal clear from context or you’re using a very elliptical style (e.g., in notes). As a standalone sentence, keep Я.
Pronunciation and stress tips?
- случа́йно (stress on -ча́й-).
- сде́лал (the с voices before д: sounds like [зд]).
- оши́бку (after ш, written и sounds like [ы]).
- бы́стро (unstressed final о reduces).
- её (stress on -ё).
- исправил́ (stress on -ра-).
Why not исправился?
Исправился is reflexive: “I improved/changed my behavior,” or “I corrected myself (as a person).” To fix a mistake, you use the transitive исправить что: исправил ошибку/её.
Can I say быстро это исправил instead of быстро её исправил?
Yes. Это refers to “this situation/this thing” and is gender‑neutral. It’s a common way to avoid repeating the noun: …и быстро это исправил.
Is ошибка the same as опечатка?
No. Ошибка is any mistake. Опечатка is specifically a typo. If you typed something wrong, you could say: Я случайно сделал опечатку и быстро её исправил.
Could I use а or но instead of и?
Yes, to add contrast:
- …но быстро её исправил = “but quickly corrected it” (stronger contrast).
- …а быстро её исправил = mild contrast or shift.
И simply sequences the actions without contrast.
Why is её sometimes written as ее?
The letter ё is often printed as е in everyday Russian, so you’ll see ее. Both are acceptable in normal text. Dictionaries and textbooks prefer ё to avoid ambiguity.
Is я always capitalized like English “I”?
No. Russian я is lowercase within a sentence. It’s capitalized here only because it begins the sentence.