Breakdown of Портной укоротил и подшил рукава.
и
and
рукав
the sleeve
портной
the tailor
подшить
to hem by sewing
Questions & Answers about Портной укоротил и подшил рукава.
Why is Портной spelled like an adjective ending in -ой, even though it means tailor?
Because портной is one of those Russian nouns that historically look like adjectives but function as nouns.
Here, Портной is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative case
- the subject of the sentence
So in this sentence it means the tailor.
Its forms decline a lot like an adjective:
- nominative: портной
- genitive: портного
- dative: портному
- accusative: портного (because it is animate)
- instrumental: портным
- prepositional: о портном
So even though it looks adjective-like, you should learn it as a normal noun meaning tailor.
Why do укоротил and подшил end in -л?
That -л is the usual marker of the past tense in Russian.
Both verbs are:
- past tense
- masculine
- singular
Russian past tense agrees with the subject in gender and number:
- masculine: укоротил
- feminine: укоротила
- neuter: укоротило
- plural: укоротили
Since портной is masculine singular, the verbs are masculine singular too:
- Портной укоротил и подшил рукава.
Why are both verbs in the masculine singular if the object is plural?