Председатель созвал общее собрание.

Председатель means chairperson, chair, or chairman, depending on context. It is the person who heads a committee, board, meeting, or organization.

In English, the best translation can vary:

• the chairperson
• the chair
• the chairman

Созвал is the past masculine singular form of созвать, a perfective verb meaning to call together, to convene, or to summon.

It suggests not just calling, but bringing people together for a purpose. So in this sentence, it means the chairperson convened the meeting.

A useful contrast:

• звал = was calling / called
• созвал = called everyone together, convened

The prefix с- often adds the idea of gathering things or people together.

In the past tense, Russian verbs agree with the subject in gender and number.

Here the subject is председатель, which is grammatically masculine, so the verb is:

• созвал = masculine
• созвала = feminine
• созвало = neuter
• созвали = plural

So Председатель созвал... means the subject is grammatically masculine.

Yes. In modern Russian, председатель can refer to either a man or a woman in many contexts, especially in official or professional language.

However, agreement usually shows how the speaker treats it:

• Председатель созвал собрание = grammatically masculine wording
• If speaking explicitly about a woman, some speakers may say председатель созвала собрание

So the noun itself can be used for a woman, but verb agreement may vary depending on style, context, and speaker preference.

Общее собрание is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb созвал.

He convened what? → общее собрание

For an inanimate neuter noun like собрание, the accusative looks exactly the same as the nominative:

• nominative: общее собрание
• accusative: общее собрание

So the form does not change, even though the case does.

The dictionary form of the adjective is общий = general, common.

But adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

Here the noun is собрание, which is:

• neuter
• singular
• accusative (same form here as nominative)

So общий changes to общее:

• masculine: общий
• feminine: общая
• neuter: общее
• plural: общие

That is why we get общее собрание.

Общее собрание means general meeting, general assembly, or meeting of all members, depending on context.

The adjective общее here has the sense of:

• shared by all
• involving everyone
• general rather than limited

So this is not just any meeting; it is a meeting meant for the whole group or organization.

Собрание usually means a meeting, assembly, or formal gathering, especially in an organizational, political, school, or official context.

Встреча often means a meeting in the sense of an encounter or appointment:

• meeting a person
• a planned meeting between a few people
• a get-together

So:

• собрание = more formal, organized gathering
• встреча = more general or personal meeting

In this sentence, собрание fits because it sounds like an official group meeting.

Russian has no articles. There is no direct equivalent of the or a/an.

So Председатель созвал общее собрание can mean:

• The chairperson convened a general meeting
• A chairperson convened a general meeting

In real context, Russian speakers understand whether something is definite or indefinite from the situation, word order, and context.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Председатель созвал общее собрание.

But other orders are possible, for example:

• Общее собрание созвал председатель.
  This puts more focus on who convened it.
• Созвал председатель общее собрание.
  This can sound more marked or stylistic.

So the basic meaning stays the same, but the emphasis can change.

Созвать is perfective. That means it presents the action as a completed whole.

So созвал means:

• he convened it
• he successfully called it together
• the action is viewed as completed

Its imperfective partner is созывать:

• председатель созывал собрание = the chairperson was convening / used to convene / was in the process of calling the meeting

In this sentence, the perfective verb fits because it describes a completed event.

The stress is:

• председа́тель
• созва́л
• о́бщее
• собра́ние

A rough pronunciation guide:

• председа́тель ≈ preet-sye-DA-tyel'
• созва́л ≈ saz-VAL
• о́бщее ≈ OB-shchee
• собра́ние ≈ sa-BRA-ni-ye

A tricky part for English speakers is общее, because бщ forms a consonant cluster. It is often pronounced roughly like OB-shchee.

Yes. Созвать собрание is a very natural and common collocation in Russian. It means to convene a meeting or to call a meeting.

Other common combinations are:

• провести собрание = to hold/conduct a meeting
• назначить собрание = to schedule a meeting
• отменить собрание = to cancel a meeting

So созвать собрание specifically focuses on the act of calling everyone together for the meeting.