Я проверил стоимость других билетов и выбрал самый дешёвый.

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Breakdown of Я проверил стоимость других билетов и выбрал самый дешёвый.

• и: and
• билет: the ticket
• выбрать: to choose

Questions & Answers about Я проверил стоимость других билетов и выбрал самый дешёвый.

In Я проверил стоимость других билетов и выбрал самый дешёвый, why are проверил and выбрал masculine? Doesn’t я work for both genders?

In Russian, the personal pronoun я (“I”) does not show gender, but the past tense verb does.

• проверил, выбрал are past tense, masculine, singular forms.
• If a woman is speaking, she would say:
  • Я проверила стоимость других билетов и выбрала самый дешёвый.

So the gender of the speaker is shown on the verb in the past tense, not on я itself.

Why are проверил and выбрал perfective verbs? Could we use imperfective verbs instead?

Both проверил and выбрал are perfective past tense forms, which emphasize the completed result of the actions:

• проверил (from проверить) – “(I) checked” (and finished checking)
• выбрал (from выбрать) – “(I) chose” (and the choice is done)

Using imperfective forms would change the meaning:

• Я проверял стоимость других билетов – “I was checking / used to check the prices of other tickets” (process or repeated action, no guaranteed result).
• Я выбирал самый дешёвый – “I was choosing the cheapest one / I used to choose the cheapest one.”

In this sentence, the speaker wants to say I completed these actions and got a result, so perfective is natural.