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Questions & Answers about Петро пояснює подію.
What is the grammatical structure of the sentence "Петро пояснює подію"?
The sentence follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure. Петро is the subject (in the nominative case), пояснює is the verb in the present tense, and подію is the object (in the accusative case).
What tense and aspect does the verb пояснює express?
Пояснює is in the present tense and comes from the imperfective verb пояснювати. This conveys that the action is ongoing, habitual, or not yet completed.
Why is the noun подію in that particular form, and what case is it?
Подію is the accusative singular form of the noun подія (“event”). In Ukrainian, feminine nouns often change their endings in the accusative case (for example, replacing -я with -ю) to indicate their grammatical role as the object of the sentence.
How does Ukrainian express definiteness in this sentence when there are no articles like "the" or "a"?
Ukrainian does not have articles. Instead, it relies on context, word order, and case markings to convey meaning. So even though English might render the sentence as "Petro explains the event," the definiteness of подію is understood from context rather than from a specific word.
Is the word order in Ukrainian as fixed as in English, and why is SVO common in this sentence?
Ukrainian word order is relatively flexible because the grammatical roles of words are indicated by case endings. However, the SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) order seen in Петро пояснює подію is common and straightforward, making the sentence clear and easy to understand—much like standard English constructions.
What do the inflections on пояснює and подію tell us about the sentence?
The inflection -є on пояснює signals that the verb is in the 3rd person singular present form, matching the subject Петро. Similarly, the ending -ю on подію marks it as the accusative case, showing its role as the direct object of the action. These inflections are key to understanding who is doing what, even when word order is flexible.