В кафе мы взяли горячее какао, чтобы согреться после катка.

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Breakdown of В кафе мы взяли горячее какао, чтобы согреться после катка.

• мы: we
• кафе: the cafe
• чтобы: in order to

Questions & Answers about В кафе мы взяли горячее какао, чтобы согреться после катка.

Why is it в кафе, and not some other preposition or case?

В кафе means in / at the café.

Here в is used with the prepositional case to show location.
Normally, a noun after в changes form in the prepositional, but кафе is one of those Russian nouns that is indeclinable, so it stays кафе in all cases.

So:

• в кафе = in the café / at the café

A learner may expect a visible case ending, but there is none here because кафе does not change.

Why is the verb взяли used here? Does it literally mean took?

Yes, взяли literally comes from взять, meaning to take. But in Russian, взять is also commonly used in situations where English would say:

• got
• ordered
• had

So in a café context, мы взяли горячее какао can naturally mean:

• we got hot cocoa
• we ordered hot cocoa
• we had hot cocoa

It does not necessarily mean physically picking something up with your hands. It often just means obtaining or choosing something.

Why is it взяли and not брали?