Questions & Answers about Осенью мокрая листва прилипает к обуви.
Why is осенью used here to mean in autumn?
In Russian, seasons can be used in the instrumental case to express time when something happens:
- весной = in spring
- летом = in summer
- осенью = in autumn
- зимой = in winter
So Осенью literally looks like an instrumental-case form, but in practice you learn it as a very common adverbial time expression meaning in autumn / during autumn.
You could also say в осеннее время, but осенью is the normal natural way.
Why is листва singular if the meaning involves lots of leaves?
Листва is a collective noun. It means foliage, leaf cover, or the leaves as a mass, not individual leaves counted one by one.
So even though English may think of this as plural, Russian treats листва as:
- feminine
- singular
That is why both the adjective and the verb are singular:
- мокрая листва
- листва прилипает
Compare:
- листва = foliage / leaves as a mass
- листья = leaves as individual items
Why is it мокрая листва and not ?