Breakdown of Гость хочет пользоваться другой вилкой.
хотеть
to want
гость
guest
пользоваться
to use
другой
other
вилка
fork
Questions & Answers about Гость хочет пользоваться другой вилкой.
Why is другой вилкой in the Instrumental case here instead of the Accusative case?
The verb пользоваться (to use) is special: it always requires its object to be in the Instrumental case. Even though 'another fork' is the direct object being used, this specific verb forces it into the Instrumental. This also ties into the idea that a fork is a tool you do something with.
Why isn't there a preposition like с (with) before другой вилкой?
When the Instrumental case is used to show the tool or instrument you use to perform an action, you never use a preposition. You just use the bare Instrumental case. Adding с means 'together with', so с другой вилкой would sound like the guest wants to hang out alongside a second fork!
How do we get the endings for другой вилкой?
The dictionary form is другая вилка (another fork), which is feminine. To make it Instrumental, the feminine noun ending -а changes to -ой (making вилкой). The feminine adjective ending -ая also changes to -ой (making другой).
Why does the verb пользоваться end in -ся? Isn't that for reflexive actions?
While the -ся ending often shows a reflexive action (doing something to oneself), some Russian verbs simply require this ending by default without changing the meaning to 'oneself'. Пользоваться is one of these verbs. You just need to memorize it with the -ся ending!
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