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В автошколе наша инструкторша спросила: «Вы готовы ехать?» и объяснила, как держать руль.

В автошколе наша инструкторша спросила: «Вы готовы ехать?» и объяснила, как держать руль.
At the driving school our (female) instructor asked, “Are you ready to drive?” and explained how to hold the steering wheel.

Breakdown of В автошколе наша инструкторша спросила: «Вы готовы ехать?» и объяснила, как держать руль.

объяснить
to explain
и
and
как
how
вы
you
ехать
to drive
в
at
наш
our
спросить
to ask
держать
to hold
готовый
ready
автошкола
the driving school
инструкторша
the female instructor
руль
the steering wheel
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Questions & Answers about В автошколе наша инструкторша спросила: «Вы готовы ехать?» и объяснила, как держать руль.

Why is it в автошколе and not в автошколу?

Because в автошколе uses the prepositional case to mean in/at the driving school (location).
В автошколу would use the accusative case and would mean to the driving school (direction/motion toward).

What case is автошколе, and how is it formed?

Автошколе is prepositional singular of автошкола (a feminine noun).
Declension pattern:

  • nominative: автошкола
  • prepositional: (в) автошколе

It follows the common -а → -е change for many feminine nouns in the prepositional case.

Why is it наша инструкторша (feminine), and is инструкторша normal?

Наша is feminine because it agrees with инструкторша (feminine noun).
Инструкторша means a female instructor, but it can sound informal or slightly colloquial depending on context and speaker.

Common alternatives:

  • наш инструктор (often used even for a woman in some contexts; grammatically masculine)
  • наша инструктор (used by some speakers, but grammatically “mixed”)
  • инструкторка (increasingly used; can sound modern/colloquial; regional variation)
Why is спросила in the feminine form?

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree in gender and number with the subject.
The subject is инструкторша (feminine singular), so the verb is feminine singular: спросила.

Compare:

  • спросил (masculine)
  • спросила (feminine)
  • спросили (plural)
Why is there a colon before the direct speech: спросила: ...?

A colon is commonly used in Russian before direct speech when it follows a reporting verb (like сказал, спросил, ответил).
So спросила: ... introduces exactly what she asked.

How does the punctuation of direct speech work here (the quotation marks and the question mark)?

The direct speech is written inside quotation marks, and the punctuation belongs to the direct speech itself:

  • ... спросила: «Вы готовы ехать?» ...

The question mark stays inside because Вы готовы ехать? is a question in the quoted speech.

(Other styles exist, but this is a very standard printed style.)

Why is Вы capitalized?

Capital Вы is the polite/formal you in writing. It’s often capitalized in letters, emails, and sometimes in narration to show respect.
Lowercase вы can also be used in many printed texts even when it’s polite; capitalization is partly a style choice.

Why does готовы look plural when it’s talking to one person?

Because polite Вы grammatically behaves like plural you. So adjectives and past-tense verbs typically take plural forms:

  • Вы готовы (plural short adjective)
  • Вы были готовы (plural)
  • Вы сказали (plural past)

If speaking informally to one person (ты), it would be:

  • Ты готов(а) ехать? (gender depends on the person)
What is готовы grammatically, and why isn’t there a verb meaning “to be”?

Готовы is a short-form adjective (short predicate form) meaning ready.
Russian often omits the present-tense verb быть (to be), so:

  • Вы готовы ехать? literally “You ready to go?”

In past/future you would use forms of быть:

  • Вы были готовы ехать?
  • Вы будете готовы ехать?
Why is ехать used, and what’s the difference between ехать and поехать here?

Ехать is imperfective and can mean to be going / to drive (in general). In готовы ехать it sounds like “ready to start driving / ready to go.”

Поехать is perfective and often focuses on setting off (starting the trip):

  • Вы готовы поехать? = “Are you ready to set off / head out?”

In a driving-school setting, ехать is very natural because it connects to the activity of driving.

Why is there a comma in объяснила, как держать руль?

Because как держать руль is an embedded (indirect) question/statement meaning “how to hold the steering wheel.”
Russian typically separates the main clause from such subordinate clauses with a comma:

  • Она объяснила, как держать руль.
What does как держать руль mean grammatically (why the infinitive держать)?

It’s a common Russian pattern: (verb) + как/что/где/когда + infinitive to mean “(verb) how/what/where/when to do something.”

Here:

  • объяснила = “explained”
  • как держать = “how to hold”
  • руль = “the steering wheel”

So the infinitive держать is used because the sentence is describing the action in general, not tied to a specific person/tense inside the subordinate clause.

Why is it руль (accusative) and not something like за руль?

Руль is the direct object of держать (to hold), so it’s accusative: держать (что?) руль.

You can also say держаться за руль (“to hold on to the steering wheel”), which uses:

  • reflexive verb держаться
  • preposition за
    • accusative (за руль)

Difference in feel:

  • держать руль = actively holding/controlling the wheel (very common for driving instruction)
  • держаться за руль = holding onto it (can imply clinging/holding on, depending on context)
Why are there two verbs in past tense: спросила ... и объяснила?

They are coordinated actions by the same subject (инструкторша). Russian often links them with и:

  • She asked (first action)
  • and explained (second action)

Both are feminine past singular (спросила, объяснила) because the subject is feminine singular.