Breakdown of Что они писали в длинных комментариях?
они
they
что
what
писать
to write
в
in / to (direction)
длинный
long
комментарий
comment
Questions & Answers about Что они писали в длинных комментариях?
Why does комментариях end in -ях instead of -ах?
The dictionary form is комментарий, which is a masculine noun ending in -й. In the prepositional plural, nouns ending in -й or a soft sign take the soft ending -ях. Words ending in a regular hard consonant take the hard ending -ах.
Why does the adjective длинных end in -ых? Could it be -их?
Adjectives in the prepositional plural take either -ых or -их. The dictionary form is длинный. Because the stem ends in the hard consonant н, it takes the hard ending -ых. You only use -их for soft stems (like синий) or when spelling rules require it after certain letters like г, к, or х (like русских).
Doesn't the preposition в sometimes use the accusative case? Why is it prepositional here?
Yes, в takes the accusative case when describing movement or direction (going into something). But when describing a location (being inside something), it takes the prepositional case. Here, the text is located inside the comments, so we use the prepositional plural в длинных комментариях.
Why use the imperfective verb писали instead of the perfective написали?
Both are possible depending on the exact context. Using the imperfective писали focuses on the process of the action itself (What were they writing?). If the speaker wanted to focus purely on the final, completed result, they would use the perfective verb написали (What did they finish writing?).
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