Breakdown of Иван договорился встретиться с новым директором.
новый
new
Иван
Ivan
директор
director
с
with (also со)
встретиться
to meet / to meet up (with each other)
договориться
to come to an agreement / to arrange
Questions & Answers about Иван договорился встретиться с новым директором.
Why do both договорился and встретиться end in -ся?
In Russian, adding -ся or -сь to a verb can make it reciprocal. This means the action is mutual, involving two or more people doing something together. Here, Ivan and the director are agreeing with each other (договориться) and meeting each other (встретиться).
Why is встретиться in the infinitive form?
Just like in English, when you have two verbs describing one continuous idea, only the first verb is conjugated. Here, договорился (agreed) is in the past tense to match Иван, and it is followed by the infinitive встретиться (to meet).
Why do we need the preposition с before новым директором?
Reciprocal verbs like договориться (to agree) and встретиться (to meet) are almost always followed by с (with) plus the Instrumental case when you mention the other person. While in English you can simply say meet the director, Russian requires the equivalent of meet with the director.
What are the case endings on новым директором?
They are in the Instrumental case because they follow the preposition с (with). For masculine nouns like директор, the standard Instrumental ending is -ом. The matching masculine adjective новый (new) takes the ending -ым.
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