Breakdown of После хорошего объяснения студентам легче говорить по‑русски.
Questions & Answers about После хорошего объяснения студентам легче говорить по‑русски.
Literally, word by word:
- После – after
- хорошего объяснения – a good explanation (in the genitive case)
- студентам – to (the) students / for students (dative case)
- легче – easier
- говорить – to speak
- по‑русски – in Russian
Very literally:
“After (a) good explanation, to the students is easier to speak in‑Russian.”
Natural English:
“After a good explanation, it is easier for the students to speak Russian.”
Because после (“after”) always requires the genitive case in Russian.
- The base form is хорошее объяснение (nominative, “a good explanation”)
- After после, you must use the genitive:
- объяснение → объяснения (genitive singular, neuter)
- The adjective must agree with the noun in gender, number and case:
- хорошее → хорошего (genitive singular, neuter)
So:
- Nominative: хорошее объяснение – a good explanation
- After после: после хорошего объяснения – after a good explanation
Using после хорошее объяснение would be ungrammatical in Russian.
Объяснение is a noun meaning “explanation.”
- It is derived from the verb объяснить / объяснять (“to explain”).
- Gender: neuter
- Base (dictionary) form: объяснение – nominative singular
- In the sentence it appears as объяснения – genitive singular (required by после).
So после хорошего объяснения = “after a good explanation.”
Студентам is the dative plural form of студент (“student”).
- студенты – nominative plural (“students” as the subject)
- студентам – dative plural (“to/for students”)
In this sentence, the “experiencer” of “easier” is in the dative:
- студентам легче… – it is easier for (the) students…
This is a very common pattern:
- Мне холодно. – I am cold. (literally “To me is cold.”)
- Ему трудно говорить. – It is hard for him to speak.
Similarly:
- Студентам легче говорить по‑русски. – It is easier for students to speak Russian.
In the present tense, Russian normally drops the verb “to be” (быть) in sentences like this.
- English: “It is easier for students to speak Russian.”
- Russian: Студентам легче говорить по‑русски.
(literally: “To students easier to speak in Russian.”)
You could theoretically say студентам есть легче…, but in modern Russian that sounds unnatural here. The normal, correct form simply omits есть in the present tense.
Легче is the comparative form of the adjective лёгкий (“light, easy”).
- Positive: лёгкий – easy
- Comparative: легче – easier
- Superlative: самый лёгкий – the easiest
In this sentence, легче works like an impersonal predicate:
- Студентам легче… – It is easier for the students…
Note that in the comparative form the spelling changes:
лёгкий → легче (the vowel changes and the soft sign disappears).
Russian often uses the infinitive with words like легче, трудно, нужно, можно to express something like “it is easier/harder/necessary/possible to do X.”
Pattern:
- Кому? (dative) + как? (adverb or comparative) + делать что? (infinitive)
Examples:
- Мне трудно понимать быстро. – It is hard for me to understand quickly.
- Ему легко читать по‑русски. – It is easy for him to read Russian.
- Студентам легче говорить по‑русски. – It is easier for the students to speak Russian.
If you used говорят (“they speak”), the meaning changes:
- После хорошего объяснения студенты легче говорят по‑русски.
– After a good explanation, the students speak Russian more easily.
This is possible, but it focuses on how they actually speak, not on how easy it feels for them. The original sentence emphasizes subjective ease via the infinitive construction.
По‑русски is an adverbial form meaning “in Russian (language).”
- It comes historically from a case form of русский язык (“Russian language”), but in modern language you simply treat по‑русски as an adverb: “in Russian.”
Common pattern:
- говорить по‑русски – to speak in Russian
- говорить по‑английски – to speak in English
- говорить по‑французски – to speak in French
По‑русскому would be a dative form of the adjective русский, but говорить по‑русскому is incorrect in standard Russian for “speak Russian.”
A full, more formal variant is:
- говорить на русском языке – literally “to speak in the Russian language.”
So:
- говорить по‑русски = говорить на русском (языке) = “to speak Russian.”
Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, especially in a sentence like this.
All of these are grammatically correct (with slightly different emphasis):
После хорошего объяснения студентам легче говорить по‑русски.
– Neutral: “After a good explanation, it is easier for students to speak Russian.”Студентам после хорошего объяснения легче говорить по‑русски.
– Mild emphasis on студентам (“for students, after a good explanation, it’s easier…”).Легче студентам говорить по‑русски после хорошего объяснения.
– Emphasis on легче (the fact of it being easier).
The case endings (после + genitive, студентам dative, etc.) keep the meaning clear even when you move words around, so word order is more about focus and style than basic grammar here.
Singular “student” instead of “students”
- Plural: студентам – to/for (the) students (dative plural)
- Singular: студенту – to/for the student (dative singular)
So:
- После хорошего объяснения студенту легче говорить по‑русски.
– After a good explanation, it is easier for the student to speak Russian.
Saying “harder” instead of “easier”
The comparative of трудный (“difficult, hard”) is труднее (“more difficult, harder”).
- После хорошего объяснения студентам труднее говорить по‑русски.
– After a good explanation, it is harder for the students to speak Russian.
(This sounds a bit paradoxical, but it’s grammatically fine.)
You can also combine singular + “harder”:
- После плохого объяснения студенту труднее говорить по‑русски.
– After a bad explanation, it is harder for the student to speak Russian.
- После хорошего объяснения студентам труднее говорить по‑русски.