Вчера я купила маленькую сумочку для театра.

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Breakdown of Вчера я купила маленькую сумочку для театра.

• маленький: small
• вчера: yesterday
• купить: to buy

Questions & Answers about Вчера я купила маленькую сумочку для театра.

Why is it купила and not купил?

In the past tense, Russian verbs in the singular agree with the subject’s gender.

• я купил = I bought (said by a man)
• я купила = I bought (said by a woman)

So this sentence suggests the speaker is female.

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What aspect is купила, and why not покупала?

Купила is perfective past tense, from купить. It presents the action as completed: the purchase happened and is finished.

That fits well with вчера (yesterday) when you are talking about one completed event.

Compare:

• Вчера я купила сумочку. = Yesterday I bought a handbag.
• Вчера я покупала сумочку. = Yesterday I was buying / was in the process of buying a handbag, or it may focus on the activity rather than the completed result.

So купила is the natural choice here.

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Why are маленькую and сумочку in those forms?