Learn Hardcore Russian: Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание о том, как она играла в шахматы с подругой. - I especially liked one memory about how she played chess with a friend.

Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание о том, как она играла в шахматы с подругой.

I especially liked one memory about how she played chess with a friend.

Breakdown of Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание о том, как она играла в шахматы с подругой.

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Questions & Answers about Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание о том, как она играла в шахматы с подругой.

Why is it мне понравилось and not something like я понравился to mean “I liked”?

In Russian, нравиться / понравиться literally means “to be pleasing to someone”, not “to like” as an active verb.

Мне понравилось = “(It) was pleasing *to me”* → “I liked (it)”.
мне is dative (to me).
The thing you like is the grammatical subject.

You never say я понравился книгу for “I liked a book”. Instead:

Мне понравилась книга. – I liked the book. (lit. “The book was pleasing to me”)

Я понравился means “I was liked” (by someone), for example:

Я понравился ей. – She liked me. (lit. “I was pleasing to her”)

Why is понравилось in neuter form? There’s no obvious neuter noun like оно in English.

Понравилось is neuter past tense because the subject of the verb is neuter:

одно воспоминание – one memory → neuter noun

So the agreement is:

Мне понравилось одно воспоминание.
One memory pleased me / I liked one memory.

If the subject were feminine/masculine, the verb would agree:

Мне понравилась эта история. – I liked this story. (fem.)
Мне понравился этот фильм. – I liked this film. (masc.)
Мне понравилось это воспоминание. – I liked this memory. (neut.)

What case is мне, and why is that case used here?

Мне is dative singular of я (I).

The verb нравиться / понравиться always takes the dative for the person who likes something:

кому? – to whom? → мне, тебе, ему, ей, нам, вам, им

Examples:

Мне нравится музыка. – I like music.
Тебе понравился фильм? – Did you like the movie?
Ей не понравилась идея. – She didn’t like the idea.

What exactly does особенно mean here, and how is it different from очень?

Особенно means “especially, particularly”.

In the sentence:

Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание…
→ I especially liked one (particular) memory…

Nuance:

очень = very → intensifies the degree (how much you liked it)
особенно = especially / particularly → picks something out from a group

Compare:

Мне очень понравилось воспоминание. – I liked the memory very much.
Из всех рассказов мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание.
– Of all the stories, I particularly liked one memory.

Why is it одно воспоминание and not одна воспоминание?

The numeral один / одна / одно agrees in gender with the noun.

один – masculine
одна – feminine
одно – neuter

The noun воспоминание (memory) is neuter, so you must use:

одно воспоминание – one memory

Examples:

одна книга (book – fem.)
один фильм (film – masc.)
одно письмо (letter – neut.)

What case is одно воспоминание in, and what role does it play in the sentence?

Одно воспоминание is in the nominative singular (the dictionary form).

In this sentence it is the grammatical subject of понравилось:

(Что?) одно воспоминание понравилось (кому?) мне.
What pleased (to whom)? One memory pleased me.

So:

subject: одно воспоминание
verb: понравилось
indirect object (dative): мне

Why do we say о том, как… and not just о как…?

In Russian, when you say “about how …” as a clause, you typically use the pattern:

о том, как … – about how …
о том, что … – about what/that …

The word том is a demonstrative pronoun (like “that”), and как/что introduces the subordinate clause.

So:

воспоминание о том, как она играла…
= a memory about how she played…

You cannot say о как она играла. That’s ungrammatical.

More examples:

Он рассказал о том, что случилось. – He talked about what happened.
Мы вспоминали о том, как встретились. – We remembered how we met.

In как она играла в шахматы, what is как doing? Is it like the question word “how”?

Here как is a subordinating conjunction, not a direct question word. It introduces a clause that describes “how / in what way / in what situation” the action happened.

о том, как она играла в шахматы…
→ about how she played chess… (describing the manner/situation)

Compare:

Direct question: Как она играла? – How did she play? (question)
Subordinate clause: Я помню, как она играла. – I remember how she played.

Same word как, but in the second case it just ties a clause to the main sentence.

Why is it играла, the imperfective, and not сыграла?

Играть (imperfective) vs сыграть (perfective):

играла focuses on the process / ongoing action (was playing, used to play).
сыграла focuses on the completed result (played (and finished) at some specific time).

In a memory context like:

…воспоминание о том, как она играла в шахматы…

we usually want to evoke the scene or process of playing, not just the finished fact that the game happened. That’s why the imperfective играла is more natural.

If you said как она сыграла в шахматы, it would sound like focusing on how she performed that one game, its outcome or result, which is a narrower, more result-oriented meaning.

Why do we say играть в шахматы with в and plural шахматы?

For games, Russian uses the pattern:

играть в + accusative (usually plural for many board/ball games)

Examples:

играть в шахматы – to play chess
играть в футбол – to play football/soccer
играть в карты – to play cards
играть в теннис – to play tennis

So:

в шахматы – accusative plural of шахматы (a plural-only noun: “chess”)

Note the contrast with musical instruments:

играть на гитаре – to play the guitar
играть на пианино – to play the piano

So:
играть в + game, играть на + instrument.

Why is it с подругой and not just с подруга? What case is подругой?

С meaning “with” requires the instrumental case.

подруга – nominative (dictionary form)
подругой – instrumental singular

So:

с подругой – with (a) female friend

Other examples:

с другом – with (a) friend (male)
с мамой – with mom
с братом – with brother

Never say с подруга in this meaning; it must be с подругой.

What’s the difference between подруга and друг? Could this mean “girlfriend”?

друг – friend (usually male)
подруга – friend (female)

So подруга is the female counterpart of друг.

Context points:

моя подруга can mean “my (female) friend”.
In some contexts, especially between adults, моя девушка is more clearly “my girlfriend (romantic)”.
моя подруга can be just a friend, though sometimes context can imply a romantic relationship.

In a neutral sentence about chess:

играла в шахматы с подругой is naturally understood as “with (her) female friend.”

Can we change the word order, for example: Одно воспоминание мне особенно понравилось? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Одно воспоминание мне особенно понравилось.

The basic meaning stays the same: I especially liked one memory.

Nuance:

Мне особенно понравилось одно воспоминание…
→ starts from “to me, especially”, focusing more on the speaker’s reaction.
Одно воспоминание мне особенно понравилось…
→ starts with “one memory”, emphasizing that one specific memory stood out.

Both are correct and natural; it’s mainly a matter of focus and style.