Такие встречи расширяют круг общения и помогают заводить новых друзей.

Such meetings expand your circle of communication and help you make new friends.

Breakdown of Такие встречи расширяют круг общения и помогают заводить новых друзей.

• новый: new
• и: and
• помогать: to help
• встреча: the meeting
• такой: such
• расширять: to expand
• круг: the circle
• общение: the communication
• заводить друзей: to make friends

Questions & Answers about Такие встречи расширяют круг общения и помогают заводить новых друзей.

In такие встречи, what exactly does такие mean, and how is it different from такой, так, and этот?

Такие is the nominative plural form of the pronoun-adjective такой (“such, this kind of”).

• такой – masculine singular (e.g. такой человек – such a person)
• такая – feminine singular (e.g. такая встреча – such a meeting)
• такое – neuter singular (e.g. такое письмо – such a letter)
• такие – plural (all genders) (e.g. такие встречи – such meetings / these kinds of meetings)

It agrees with встречи in:

• number: plural
• case: nominative
• gender: plural doesn’t have gender distinction

Differences from related words:

• такой (and its forms) = “such, this kind of”
  • такие встречи = “such meetings / meetings like this”
• так = an adverb, “so, this way, like this”
  • Он говорит так. – He speaks like this.
• этот / эти = “this / these” (specific, pointing to particular objects)
  • эти встречи = these (particular) meetings
  • такие встречи = such meetings (meetings of this type in general)

Here такие is more about type/kind than pointing to specific, already known meetings.

Why is встречи plural here, and what are its gender and case?

Встречи is:

• noun: встреча (meeting)
• gender: feminine
• number: plural
• case: nominative

So такие встречи = “such meetings” is the subject of the sentence.

Why plural?

• The sentence talks about such meetings in general, as a recurring type of event.
• In Russian, generalizations about situations often use the plural:
  • Такие встречи помогают… – Such (kinds of) meetings help…
  • Книги развивают мышление. – Books develop thinking.

You could say Такая встреча… (“Such a meeting…”) if you were talking about one particular meeting, but then the meaning shifts from general/habitual to one specific case.

What does круг общения literally mean, and what are the cases of the nouns?

Literally:

• круг = “circle”
• общения = genitive singular of общение (“communication, social interaction, contact”)

So круг общения literally is “circle of communication / circle of social interaction,” and idiomatically means:

• your social circle
• the range of people you communicate with

Grammatically:

• круг – nominative singular (masculine)
• общения – genitive singular (neuter), dependent on круг

The phrase behaves like a single semantic unit:

• расширять круг общения = “to expand one’s social circle”

Other similar expressions:

• круг друзей – circle of friends
• круг знакомых – circle of acquaintances

What tense and aspect is расширяют, and why that form instead of a future or perfective verb?

Расширяют is:

• verb: расширять (to expand, to widen)
• aspect: imperfective
• tense: present
• person/number: 3rd person plural (they)
• subject: такие встречи

So it means “(they) expand / widen” in a general, habitual sense.

Why imperfective present?

• The sentence describes what such meetings generally do:
  • Такие встречи расширяют… – Such meetings (as a type) expand…
• Imperfective present is used for:
  • habitual actions
  • general truths
  • characteristics

A perfective form расширят (future, perfective) like:

• Такие встречи расширят круг общения. would usually describe a specific future set of meetings with a more one-time/result focus: “Such meetings (that will take place) will (once) expand the circle of communication.”
  That loses the idea of a general, timeless statement about this kind of activity.

How is расширяют круг общения structured grammatically?

Structure:

• такие встречи – subject (nom. pl.)
• расширяют – verb (3rd pl. present, imperfective)
• круг общения – direct object (accusative)

Case details:

• круг is masculine, and in the accusative singular it looks the same as the nominative singular: круг.
• общения is genitive singular, dependent on круг as part of the fixed phrase круг общения.

So the pattern is:

• [subject] + [verb] + [direct object with dependent genitive]
  e.g. Такие встречи расширяют круг общения.

What is помогают doing in the sentence, grammatically and semantically?

Помогают is:

• verb: помогать (to help)
• aspect: imperfective
• tense: present
• person/number: 3rd person plural (“they help”)
• subject: still такие встречи (same as for расширяют)

So:

• Такие встречи … помогают заводить новых друзей. = “Such meetings help to make new friends.”

Typical pattern for помогать:

• помогать кому? (dative) делать что? (infinitive)
  
  • Эти курсы помогают студентам понимать грамматику.
    – These courses help students understand grammar.

In this sentence, the кому? (to whom) is implicit (e.g. людям, нам, участникам), and we only see:

• помогают
  • infinitive заводить (help to make).

Both расширяют and помогают share the same subject такие встречи, joined by и:

• Такие встречи (что делают?) расширяют… и помогают…

Why is it помогают заводить and not помогают завести?

Both are possible in Russian, but the nuance differs:

1. помогают заводить новых друзей

   • заводить = imperfective infinitive
   • Focus: process, ability, repeated/general action
   • Meaning: such meetings help you in general to make (start forming) new friends, as a regular or typical effect.

2. помогают завести новых друзей

   • завести = perfective infinitive
   • Focus: result, achieving an outcome once (or in a particular situation)
   • Meaning: such meetings help you (once) to get / to acquire new friends (achieve that result).

Because the whole sentence states a general truth about what such meetings typically do, imperfective (заводить) matches that habitual/general meaning better than perfective (завести).

What exactly does заводить друзей mean, and how does it differ from other ways of saying “make friends”?

Заводить друзей literally is “to start/acquire friends,” but idiomatically it means:

• to make friends (to start new friendships)

Important points:

• заводить is imperfective, used here as “to get, to acquire” in a social context.
• It emphasizes beginning/starting new relationships, not just the result of already being friends.

Comparison with other phrases:

• заводить друзей – to make friends, start forming new friendships (natural, common).
• находить друзей – literally “to find friends”; can be used, but sounds a bit more like “to find” as if they were already there.
• подружиться (с кем) – to become friends (with someone), usually perfective and more focused on the result:
  • На таких встречах легко подружиться. – It’s easy to become friends at such meetings.
• заводить знакомых – to make acquaintances (weaker than friends).

Also, note that заводить has many other meanings (to wind a clock, start a car, get a pet, etc.), but with друзей it strongly means “to make friends.”

Why is it новых друзей and not something like новые друзья? What case is this?

Новых друзей is:

• новых – adjective, plural, genitive/accusative form
• друзей – noun друг in genitive plural (irregular: друг → друзья → друзей)

Function in the sentence:

• It is the direct object of заводить (to make whom? friends).

Key rule:

• For animate masculine plural nouns, the accusative plural form = genitive plural form.
• So although друзей looks genitive plural, in this sentence it is used as accusative plural, because it is the direct object and refers to people.

Compare:

• Inanimate: вижу столы – “I see tables” (accusative = nominative: столы)
• Animate: вижу друзей – “I see (my) friends” (accusative = genitive: друзей)

The adjective новых must match the noun in case and number:

• plural, animate → accusative plural = genitive plural form → новых друзей

You cannot say новые друзей – that mixes nominative adjective with genitive noun and is ungrammatical here.
You also wouldn’t say новые друзья in this position because that is nominative plural (“new friends” as subject), while here we need the object form.

Is новых here genitive or accusative?

Morphologically, новых is the same for:

• genitive plural
• accusative plural (for animate nouns)

So form-wise, it could be either. Functionally in this sentence:

• It is part of the direct object phrase новых друзей, so syntactically we treat it as accusative plural.

Because Russian uses the same form for genitive plural and animate accusative plural, you determine the case by:

• syntactic role (subject/object/etc.)
• verb government

Here:

• заводить (кого?) – to make whom? → accusative
• Therefore новых друзей is in accusative plural, even though it looks identical to genitive plural.

Could the sentence use singular instead, like заводить нового друга? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

• Такие встречи расширяют круг общения и помогают заводить нового друга.

But:

• нового друга (singular) sounds like “a new friend,” one friend.
• The original новых друзей implies more than one, and more generally “new friends” as a typical, repeated outcome.

Meaning difference:

• нового друга – suggests that at such meetings you typically get one new friend.
• новых друзей – suggests you can get several new friends, or just “new friends” in general, without specifying a number.

The plural is more natural here because:

• It matches the general, non-limited idea of improving your social life and expanding your network.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Такие встречи помогают заводить новых друзей и расширяют круг общения? Would the meaning change?

Yes, you can say:

• Такие встречи помогают заводить новых друзей и расширяют круг общения.

This is grammatically correct and means essentially the same thing.

Word order in Russian is relatively flexible and is often used for emphasis and information structure rather than basic grammar. The difference is subtle:

• расширяют круг общения и помогают заводить новых друзей

  • Slightly first emphasizes the effect on your social circle, then on making new friends.

• помогают заводить новых друзей и расширяют круг общения

  • Slightly first emphasizes making new friends, then the broader effect on your social circle.

In normal speech, both orders are acceptable; the choice mostly reflects which effect the speaker wants to highlight first.