Я встретил соседку в подъезде и дал ей ключ.

I

Breakdown of Я встретил соседку в подъезде и дал ей ключ.

• в: in
• и: and
• дать: to give

Questions & Answers about Я встретил соседку в подъезде и дал ей ключ.

Why is it встретил, not встретила?

Встретил is the past tense masculine singular form of the verb.

In Russian past tense, the verb agrees with the gender and number of the subject:

• я встретил = I met (said by a man)
• я встретила = I met (said by a woman)

So this sentence sounds like it is being said by a male speaker. If the speaker were female, it would be:

• Я встретила соседку в подъезде и дала ей ключ.

Notice that дал would also change to дала.

Why is соседку not соседка?

Because соседку is in the accusative case.

The verb встретить takes a direct object — the person you met. In Russian, direct objects often go into the accusative:

• соседка = neighbor (nominative, dictionary form)
• соседку = neighbor (accusative)

Since соседка is a feminine noun ending in -а, its accusative singular changes to -у:

• соседка → соседку

So:

• Я встретил соседку = I met my/the female neighbor