Breakdown of К чаю бабушка разрезала тёплую булку и намазала на неё масло.
и
and
на
on
чай
the tea
бабушка
the grandmother
Questions & Answers about К чаю бабушка разрезала тёплую булку и намазала на неё масло.
What does к чаю mean here, and why is чаю in that form?
К чаю is a very common Russian expression meaning for tea, with tea, or to go with tea.
The preposition к normally takes the dative case, so чай becomes чаю.
Here it is not about movement toward tea in a literal sense. It is an idiomatic way to say that something is prepared to be eaten or served with tea.
Why does the sentence begin with К чаю instead of the subject бабушка?
Russian word order is much more flexible than English word order.
Starting with К чаю puts that idea in the spotlight first: as for tea / for tea, grandma... In other words, it sets the scene or context before introducing what grandma did.
A more neutral order would also be possible, for example:
Бабушка разрезала тёплую булку и намазала на неё масло к чаю.
But the original sounds natural and gives к чаю a bit of emphasis.
Why do разрезала and намазала end in -ла?