Breakdown of Нападающий забил первый гол, а защитник не успел его остановить.
не
not
а
and
первый
first
его
him
Questions & Answers about Нападающий забил первый гол, а защитник не успел его остановить.
Why do нападающий and защитник both mean player positions, and why does нападающий look like an adjective?
Нападающий originally comes from the present active participle of нападать (to attack), so literally it means something like attacking. In modern Russian, though, it is very commonly used as a noun meaning forward / attacker / striker, especially in sports.
Защитник is a regular noun built from защита (defense/protection) and means defender.
So in this sentence:
- нападающий = the attacker / forward
- защитник = the defender
Russian often uses adjective-like forms as nouns when the meaning is clear from context.
Why is it забил and not забивал?
Забил is the past tense of the perfective verb забить. Perfective verbs usually focus on a completed action or a result.
Here, the result matters: the attacker scored a goal.
- забил = scored, got the goal in
- забивал = was scoring / used to score / scored repeatedly, depending on context
In this sentence, one completed event is being described, so забил is the natural choice.
Why is it первый гол and not some other case form?