Breakdown of Это трудное правило, поэтому мы спросим учителя.
это
this / it is
мы
we
учитель
teacher
трудный
difficult
поэтому
so (therefore)
спросить
to ask (perfective)
правило
rule
Questions & Answers about Это трудное правило, поэтому мы спросим учителя.
Why does спросим mean "will ask"? It looks like a present tense verb.
This is how the simple future tense works! The verb спросить (to ask) is a perfective verb, meaning it describes an action that will be fully completed. When you put regular present tense endings on a perfective verb, it automatically becomes the future tense. So, мы спросим means "we will ask" (and get an answer), not "we are asking".
Why does учителя end in -я? Isn't it the direct object of the verb?
It is the direct object, which means it is in the accusative case. However, учитель (teacher) is a masculine animate noun, meaning it refers to a living being. For animate masculine nouns, the accusative case takes the exact same endings as the genitive case. That is why the soft sign (-ь) at the end of the word changes to -я.
Why is it трудное and not the dictionary form трудный?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. The noun правило (rule) ends in -о, making it a neuter noun. To match it, the adjective takes the neuter ending -ое, resulting in трудное правило.
I always mix up поэтому and потому что. How do I know which one to use here?
Поэтому means "therefore" or "so". It introduces the result of a situation (it's hard, so we will ask). Потому что means "because" and introduces the cause. Since the first half of this sentence is the cause and the second half is the action we take as a result, we need поэтому.
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