Breakdown of Вежливый продавец разменял мне купюру.
мне
me
купюра
banknote
вежливый
polite
разменять
to break (a banknote) / to change (money)
Questions & Answers about Вежливый продавец разменял мне купюру.
Why is вежливый in the form вежливый, and not something else?
Because it agrees with продавец (the noun it describes). Продавец is masculine, singular, nominative, so the adjective is also masculine, singular, nominative: вежливый продавец.
(If it were feminine: вежливая продавщица; plural: вежливые продавцы.)
What grammatical case is продавец here, and how do I know?
Продавец is nominative singular because it is the subject (the person doing the action). In Russian, the “doer” of the verb is typically in the nominative case, and the verb разменял agrees with it in gender/number in the past tense.
Why is the verb разменял in this form?
Разменял is:
- past tense (the action happened)
- masculine singular (because the subject продавец is treated as masculine singular)
- perfective aspect (completed action)
If the subject were feminine: разменяла. If plural: разменяли.
What does the ending -л in разменял indicate?