Learn Hardcore Russian: Я купил кроссовки для прогулок, потому что в старой обуви мне неудобно ходить. - I bought sneakers for walks because it is uncomfortable for me to walk in my old shoes.

Word

Я купил кроссовки для прогулок, потому что в старой обуви мне неудобно ходить.

Meaning

I bought sneakers for walks because it is uncomfortable for me to walk in my old shoes.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of Я купил кроссовки для прогулок, потому что в старой обуви мне неудобно ходить.

Why is it купил, not покупал?

Купил is the perfective past form of купить, so it presents the action as completed: I bought.

That fits this sentence because the speaker is talking about a finished result: they now have the sneakers.

If you used покупал, it would sound more like:

So here:

Also, купил tells you the speaker is grammatically masculine singular. A woman would say купила.

Why is кроссовки plural if English often says a pair of sneakers?

In Russian, items that normally come in pairs are very often named in the plural:

So Я купил кроссовки is the normal way to say I bought sneakers / a pair of sneakers.

If you want to be extra explicit, you can say:

But in everyday Russian, just кроссовки is completely natural.