Breakdown of Он кидает в копилку всю мелочь, которая остаётся после магазина.
магазин
the store
который
that
он
he
после
after
Questions & Answers about Он кидает в копилку всю мелочь, которая остаётся после магазина.
Why does the sentence use кидает? Could we use бросает, кладёт, or something else instead?
Кидать literally means to throw and is imperfective (ongoing / repeated / habitual action). Here it describes a regular habit: he always does this with his change.
Possible alternatives and nuances:
- Он кидает в копилку… – throws it in, a bit casual, almost careless; very colloquial.
- Он бросает в копилку… – also throws; a bit more neutral than кидать, still informal.
- Он кладёт в копилку… – puts it in (more careful, deliberate movement).
- Он опускает в копилку… – drops / inserts money in (more formal/technical, used e.g. about machines, donation boxes).
All of these are grammatically possible. The original just paints a slightly informal picture: he casually throws his change into the piggy bank each time.
Why is it в копилку and not в копилка or something else?
В can use either accusative (direction, into) or prepositional (location, in):
- Direction: в копилку – into the piggy bank → accusative case
- Location: в копилке – in the piggy bank → prepositional case
Here it is clearly movement into something, so we need accusative.
The noun is копилка (feminine, nominative). Feminine -а in accusative singular becomes :