Question 1

Why does поссорился end in -ся, and how does it relate to с братом?

Accepted Answer

Поссориться (to quarrel) is a reciprocal reflexive verb. The -ся ending shows that the action is mutual, meaning two people are doing it to each other. These verbs naturally pair with с (with) plus the Instrumental case, like с братом, to show who the other participant is.

Question 2

How do we form the Instrumental case for братом?

Accepted Answer

The dictionary form is брат (brother). After the preposition с (meaning "with"), we must use the Instrumental case. For masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant, we just add -ом, which gives us братом.

Question 3

Why does помирились end in -сь instead of -ся?

Accepted Answer

The reflexive ending changes depending on the letter right before it. Because the past tense plural ending -ли ends in a vowel, we use the shortened reflexive ending -сь. For forms ending in a consonant, like the masculine singular поссорил, we use the full -ся (поссорился).

Question 4

Both поссорился and помирились start with по-. What does this prefix do?

Accepted Answer

The prefix по- here makes these verbs perfective. This tells us that both actions—the quarreling and the making up—are viewed as completed, one-time events in the past, rather than ongoing situations or habits.

Он поссорился с братом, но они уже помирились.

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