Breakdown of Перед сном я сняла покрывало и открыла окно, потому что в комнате было душно.
я
I
в
in
быть
to be
комната
the room
Questions & Answers about Перед сном я сняла покрывало и открыла окно, потому что в комнате было душно.
Why is it перед сном, and what does it literally mean?
Перед сном literally means before sleep. In natural English, that usually becomes before going to bed or before sleeping.
The preposition перед usually takes the instrumental case, so сон becomes сном.
- сон = sleep, a dream
- перед сном = before sleep / before bedtime
This is a very common Russian expression.
Why does сон change to сном?
Because after перед, Russian normally uses the instrumental case.
So:
- сон = nominative
- сном = instrumental
This is one of the core things Russian learners need to get used to: prepositions often require specific cases.
Why are the verbs сняла and открыла feminine?
In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.
Here the subject is я, but Russian past-tense verbs still show whether the speaker is male or female:
- я снял, я открыл = a male speaker
- я сняла, я открыла = a female speaker
So this sentence is being said by a woman.
Why are сняла and открыла in the past tense?