Breakdown of Мой дядя купил десять свиней.
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
десять
ten
дядя
uncle
купить
to buy (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Мой дядя купил десять свиней.
Why is the word for pigs written as свиней here?
It is in the genitive plural case because it follows the number десять (ten). The dictionary form is свинья (pig). For feminine nouns ending in -ья, the genitive plural usually drops the -я and adds -ей, which is why свинья becomes свиней.
As a quick refresher, why do we use the genitive plural after десять?
In Russian, numbers 5 and above (like 5, 10, 20) require the noun that follows them to be in the genitive plural. If the uncle had bought only 2, 3, or 4 pigs, you would use the genitive singular instead (for example, две свиньи).
The word дядя ends in -я. Why does it use the masculine word мой instead of моя?
While дядя (uncle) looks like a feminine noun and changes its endings like one, it refers to a man. Because of this natural gender, any words describing it must take masculine forms. This is why we use the masculine мой (my) and the masculine past-tense verb купил.
Why is the perfective verb купил used here instead of the imperfective покупал?
Купил emphasizes a single, completely finished action with a clear result: the transaction is done and he now has the pigs. If you used покупал, it would imply he was merely in the process of buying them or that he bought pigs on a regular basis.