Breakdown of Я редко вижусь с моим бывшим другом.
я
I
друг
friend
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
с
with (also со)
редко
rarely
бывший
former
видеться
to see each other (regularly)
Questions & Answers about Я редко вижусь с моим бывшим другом.
Why use вижусь с instead of just вижу?
видеть means "to see" someone, which is a one-way action. By adding the reflexive ending, it becomes видеться, a reciprocal verb meaning "to see each other" or "to meet up". Because the action goes both ways, this verb requires the preposition с (with) followed by the Instrumental case.
Why does the verb end in -сь instead of the usual -ся?
Reflexive endings change depending on the last letter of the conjugated verb. If the verb ends in a consonant or a soft sign (like the infinitive видеться), you add -ся. If it ends in a vowel, like the "I" form вижу, the ending shortens to -сь, making it вижусь.
Why does the adjective бывшим end in -им instead of the typical masculine Instrumental ending -ым?
Normally, hard masculine adjectives in the Instrumental case end in -ым (like новым). However, Russian has a strict spelling rule: after the letters ж, ш, ч, щ, г, к, х, you can never write the letter ы. Because the stem of бывший (former) ends in ш, the ending must be spelled with an и, making it бывшим.
Why is the pronoun моим instead of моём?
Learners often mix up these two forms of мой (my). моём is the Prepositional case (used for locations or talking about someone). Because this sentence uses the preposition с (with) for a reciprocal action, it requires the Instrumental case. The masculine Instrumental form of мой is моим.
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