Я подмела кухню веником, а мелкий мусор собрала совком.

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Breakdown of Я подмела кухню веником, а мелкий мусор собрала совком.

• кухня: the kitchen
• а: and
• мелкий: small

Questions & Answers about Я подмела кухню веником, а мелкий мусор собрала совком.

Why are the verbs подмела and собрала in the feminine form?

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the gender and number of the subject.

Here the subject is я, and the verb forms tell us the speaker is female:

• я подмёл = I swept up (male speaker)

• я подмела = I swept up (female speaker)

• я собрал = I collected (male speaker)
• я собрала = I collected (female speaker)

So this sentence is being said by a woman or girl.

Why is it подмела, not подметала?

This is a question of aspect.

• подмела is from подмести — perfective
• подметала is from подметать — imperfective

The perfective form is used because the speaker is talking about a completed action: the kitchen was swept, and the trash was collected.

So:

• Я подметала кухню = I was sweeping / I used to sweep the kitchen / I swept the kitchen (focus on process)
• Я подмела кухню = I swept the kitchen up / I finished sweeping the kitchen (focus on result)

The same idea applies to собрала from собрать: it presents the action as completed.

Why is it кухню and not кухне or ?