Breakdown of Анна наконец помирилась с мужем.
муж
husband
Анна
Anna
с
with (also со)
наконец
finally
помириться
to make up / to reconcile (completely)
Questions & Answers about Анна наконец помирилась с мужем.
Why does the verb помирилась have the ending -сь instead of -ся?
Because Anna is female, the past tense verb gets the feminine ending -ла. When a reflexive verb form ends in a vowel, the reflexive particle -ся shortens to -сь. If a man were the subject, the verb would end in a consonant and keep the full particle: помирился.
Why is the word for husband written as мужем?
It is in the Instrumental case. The preposition с (meaning 'with') requires the noun that follows it to be in the Instrumental case. For a masculine noun like муж, we add the ending -ем to make мужем.
Why is a reflexive verb used to mean 'made up'?
In Russian, verbs with the -ся or -сь ending often describe reciprocal actions, which are things people do with or to each other. Making up is a mutual action between Anna and her husband, so it uses this reciprocal verb form.
Could I change the sentence to say Анна и муж помирились?
Absolutely! That translates to 'Anna and her husband made up.' Because this is a reciprocal verb, you can either group the people into a plural subject (using the plural past tense помирились) or make one person the subject and attach the other using с plus the Instrumental case, just like our example sentence does.
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