Breakdown of Моя сестра завжди обережна, коли переходить вулицю.
мій
my
сестра
the sister
завжди
always
коли
when
вулиця
the street
обережний
careful
переходити
to cross
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Questions & Answers about Моя сестра завжди обережна, коли переходить вулицю.
Why is the possessive adjective моя used in this form?
In Ukrainian, possessive adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. Here, сестра is a feminine, singular noun in the nominative case, so моя is also in the feminine singular nominative form.
Why is the adjective обережна in the feminine form?
Because it describes сестра, which is a feminine noun. In Ukrainian, adjectives agree with the noun they refer to in terms of gender, number, and case. Thus, обережна is correctly inflected for a feminine subject.
What role does the adverb завжди play in this sentence?
Завжди means always, and it modifies the predicate adjective обережна to indicate that the sister is habitually careful. Its placement emphasizes the regularity of her behavior.
What does the subordinate clause коли переходить вулицю add to the sentence?
It provides the specific context in which the sister’s carefulness is evident. The conjunction коли (meaning when) introduces an adverbial clause that tells us under what circumstances she is careful—namely, during the act of crossing the street.
Why is there a comma before коли?
The comma separates the main clause from the subordinate clause. Ukrainian punctuation rules require a comma before conjunctions like коли when they introduce an adverbial clause, which helps clarify the structure of a complex sentence.
How is the verb перехідить conjugated and why is its subject not stated explicitly?
Перехідить is conjugated in the third person singular in the present tense. The subject is not repeated in the subordinate clause because it is understood from the main clause (сестра), a common practice in Ukrainian to avoid redundancy.
Why is the noun вулицю in the accusative case?
In the clause коли переходить вулицю, вулицю is the direct object of the verb перехідить. Ukrainian uses the accusative case to indicate the direct object of an action, hence the form вулицю.
How does the word order in this Ukrainian sentence compare to that in English?
While both languages typically follow a subject-verb-object order, Ukrainian shows more flexibility due to its case system. In this sentence, grammatical relationships are indicated through case endings and punctuation rather than strict word order, allowing for variations that still clearly convey meaning.