Я положу флешку в сумку, чтобы не потерять её.

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Breakdown of Я положу флешку в сумку, чтобы не потерять её.

• в: in
• не: not
• потерять: to lose

Questions & Answers about Я положу флешку в сумку, чтобы не потерять её.

Why is it положу and not кладу?

Положу is the future form of the perfective verb положить (to put as a completed action). It implies one completed placement (you’ll put it in and it will be there).

Кладу is the present tense of the imperfective класть and usually means:

• кладу = I’m putting (right now) / I put (habitually)
  To talk about the future with the imperfective, you’d use буду класть (I will be putting / I will put repeatedly), which sounds different in meaning.

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How do I know this is future tense if there’s no буду?

In Russian, many perfective verbs form the future by using present-tense endings with future meaning. So:

• положу (perfective “present-form”) = I will put
  This is standard and very common.

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Why is флешку in that form?

Because it’s the direct object of the verb (to put what?). Флешка is feminine, and in the accusative singular it becomes флешку.

Pattern (feminine nouns ending in -а/-я):

• nominative: флешка
• accusative: флешку

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