Questions & Answers about Охрана выдала мне временный пропуск у входа.
Why is охрана singular, and what exactly does it refer to here?
Охрана is a singular noun meaning security / security staff / security service. In Russian it often works like a collective noun: grammatically singular, but referring to the group of guards/security personnel on duty.
If you want to explicitly say “the guards,” you could also say охранники (plural): Охранники выдали мне…
Why is the verb выдала in feminine form?
Past tense verbs in Russian agree in gender and number with the subject.
Охрана is grammatically feminine singular, so the past tense is feminine singular: выдала.
Compare:
- Охранник выдал… (masc. sg.)
- Охранники выдали… (plural)
What does the verb выдала mean, and what’s its dictionary form?
Выдала is past tense (feminine singular) of выдать (perfective), meaning to issue / hand out / give out (often officially).
In this context it’s “issued (me) a temporary pass.”
Is выдать perfective here? What would the imperfective be?