Breakdown of Мы взяли этого бездомного котёнка из приюта, потому что он сразу пошёл к людям.
пойти
to go
к
to
потому что
because
мы
we
Questions & Answers about Мы взяли этого бездомного котёнка из приюта, потому что он сразу пошёл к людям.
Why is it взяли and not something like брали?
Взяли is the perfective past of взять (to take). Russian often uses the perfective when talking about a completed action: they took the kitten from the shelter, and that action is presented as a whole event.
- взять / взяли = to take, took once, completed
- брать / брали = to take, be taking, used to take, or take repeatedly
So here Мы взяли... means we took / adopted this kitten as a completed action, not an ongoing or repeated one.
Why does котёнок become котёнка in this sentence?
Because котёнок is the direct object of взяли, so it goes into the accusative case.
For masculine animate nouns, the accusative singular usually looks like the genitive singular. So:
- nominative: котёнок
- accusative: котёнка
This happens because the kitten is a living being, so Russian treats it as animate.
Compare:
- Я вижу стол = I see a table (inanimate, accusative = nominative)
- Я вижу котёнка = I see a kitten (animate, accusative = genitive)
Why is it ? Why do all three words change?