После пары я зашёл в буфет и купил йогурт.

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Breakdown of После пары я зашёл в буфет и купил йогурт.

• купить: to buy
• и: and
• после: after

Questions & Answers about После пары я зашёл в буфет и купил йогурт.

Why is it после пары? What case does после require?

После means after, and it requires the genitive case.

So:

• пара = a class period / a double lesson
• после пары = after the class / after the lesson

This is why you see пары, not пара.

A few similar examples:

• после урока = after the lesson
• после работы = after work
• после фильма = after the film

So the pattern is:

• после + genitive

What does пара mean here? Doesn’t it usually mean pair?

Yes, пара often means pair, but in student/university speech it also commonly means a class period, especially a longer one made up of two academic hours.

So in this sentence, после пары does not mean after a pair. It means something like:

• after class
• after the lesson
• after a university session

This is a very common educational-context meaning of пара in Russian.

Why is it зашёл в буфет instead of just пошёл в буфет?