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Продавщица разменяла купюру и дала мне сдачу мелкими монетами.

Продавщица разменяла купюру и дала мне сдачу мелкими монетами.
The saleswoman broke the banknote and gave me change in small coins.

Breakdown of Продавщица разменяла купюру и дала мне сдачу мелкими монетами.

и
and
мне
me
дать
to give
купюра
the banknote
продавщица
the saleswoman
разменять
to break a banknote
сдача
the change
мелкий
small
монета
the coin
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Questions & Answers about Продавщица разменяла купюру и дала мне сдачу мелкими монетами.

Why is it продавщица and not продавец?

Продавщица is a common word for a female shop assistant/saleswoman.
Продавец is the male (or sometimes gender-neutral in some contexts) version meaning salesperson. In everyday speech, Russian often marks the person’s gender like this.

What does разменяла купюру literally mean?

Разменяла = broke / changed (into smaller money).
Купюру = a banknote/bill.
So разменяла купюру means she broke a bill into smaller denominations (often to be able to give change).

Why is it разменяла (perfective) and not разменивала (imperfective)?

Разменяла is perfective past: it presents the action as completed (she did it and it’s done).
Разменивала would be imperfective, suggesting process/repetition/background, e.g. She was changing a bill (when something happened) or She often changed bills. Here the sentence reports a finished sequence of actions, so perfective fits.

Why is купюру in the accusative case?

Because купюра is the direct object of разменять (to change/break what?):

  • nominative: купюра
  • accusative singular: купюру
    In Russian, direct objects of transitive verbs commonly take the accusative.
Why does the second verb дала not repeat the subject?

Russian often omits repeated subjects when it’s obvious.
Продавщица разменяла ... и дала ... = The clerk changed ... and (she) gave ...
The subject продавщица applies to both verbs.

Why is it мне and not меня?

Because дать (to give) typically takes:

  • direct object (what is given) in the accusative: сдачу
  • recipient in the dative (to whom): мне = to me

So: дала (кому?) мне (что?) сдачу.

What exactly does сдача mean, and why is it сдачу here?

Сдача means change (money returned after paying).
It’s the direct object of дала, so it’s in the accusative:

  • nominative: сдача
  • accusative: сдачу
Why is it мелкими монетами (instrumental plural)?

The instrumental here expresses the means/form in which the change was given: “with/by/in small coins.”

  • мелкими = instrumental plural of мелкий (small, low-value)
  • монетами = instrumental plural of монета (coin)

A very natural alternative is мелочью (instrumental of мелочь), meaning small change:

  • ... дала мне сдачу мелочью.
Does мелкими mean “physically small” or “small value”?

In money contexts, мелкий / мелочь usually means small denomination / small value, not necessarily physically tiny. So мелкими монетами is low-value coins (like pennies/nickels-type amounts).

Could the word order be different?

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changes emphasis. For example:

  • Продавщица разменяла купюру и дала мне сдачу мелкими монетами. (neutral narrative)
  • Мелкими монетами она дала мне сдачу. (emphasizes small coins)
  • Мне она дала сдачу мелкими монетами. (emphasizes to me, contrastive)

The core grammar stays the same; the focus shifts.

How do you pronounce the tricky words (stress)?

Common stress patterns:

  • продавщи́ца
  • разменя́ла
  • купю́ру
  • сда́чу
  • ме́лкими
  • моне́тами

Getting these stresses right will make you much easier to understand.

Is купюра the only word for “bill/banknote”?
No. Купюра is common and neutral. Another standard word is банкнота (banknote). In everyday speech, you’ll hear both; купюра is especially common when talking about breaking a bill (like in this sentence).