Question 1

Why is the perfective verb посмотрели used here instead of the imperfective смотрели?

Accepted Answer

In this sentence, we are talking about a single, completed action with a clear result: we watched the movie from start to finish. The perfective aspect (посмотрели) expresses this completion. If you used the imperfective (смотрели), it would sound like you were in the process of watching it (without necessarily finishing), or that you were watching it repeatedly.

Question 2

Since the movie is the object being watched, shouldn't новый фильм be in the accusative case?

Accepted Answer

It actually is! In Russian, when a masculine noun is inanimate (a non-living thing, like фильм), its accusative case form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form (the nominative case). The adjective новый (new) perfectly matches this rule, which is why neither word changes its ending here.

Question 3

Why does the verb посмотрели end in -ли?

Accepted Answer

In the past tense, Russian verbs change their endings to match the gender and number of the subject, rather than who is speaking (I, you, they, etc.). Because our subject here is мы (we), which is plural, the verb takes the plural past tense ending -ли.

Question 4

Could I put Вчера at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you could say Мы посмотрели новый фильм вчера. Russian word order is quite flexible. Putting Вчера (yesterday) at the very beginning is just a natural way to set the time frame for the story right away.

Вчера мы посмотрели новый фильм.

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