Breakdown of Кто вам звонил ночью?
кто
who / whoever
звонить
to call
ночью
at night
вам
to you (formal/plural)
Questions & Answers about Кто вам звонил ночью?
Why do we use вам here instead of вы or вас?
вам is the Dative case of вы (you, formal or plural). In English you just call someone, but in Russian, the verb звонить (to call by phone) always requires the Dative case. Think of it as making a phone call to someone.
Why is the verb звонил in the masculine past tense? What if a woman called?
I learned that night is ночь. Why is it ночью here?
ночь is the basic dictionary word for night. To say at night or during the night, Russian changes the word into the Instrumental case, which gives us ночью. You can think of it acting as a time word here.
Could I change the word order and ask Кто звонил вам ночью?
Yes, you absolutely can! Russian word order is flexible, so both are grammatically correct. However, placing the short pronoun right before the verb (вам звонил) is the most natural-sounding and common way to structure this question.
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