Breakdown of Мы любим создавать вещи своими руками.
мы
we
любить
to love, to like
вещь
thing
рука
hand
свой
one's own
создавать
to create
Questions & Answers about Мы любим создавать вещи своими руками.
Why do we say руками instead of just the plural руки?
This is the Instrumental case, which is used to show the tool or instrument you use to perform an action. You are creating things by means of your hands. Since it is plural, the noun рука drops its final vowel and takes the plural Instrumental ending -ами to become руками.
Why use своими instead of нашими (our)?
своими is the plural Instrumental form of свой, which means one's own. When the owner of the object is the same as the subject of the sentence (here, We), Russian strongly prefers using свой rather than a standard possessive pronoun. The adjective ending -ими matches the plural Instrumental case of the noun it describes, руками.
Is the word вещи in the Nominative case here?
It looks exactly like the Nominative plural, but it is actually in the Accusative case because it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb создавать (to create). For inanimate objects like вещь (thing), the plural Accusative form is always identical to the plural Nominative.
Why is the imperfective verb создавать used here instead of the perfective создать?
When you talk about a general hobby, habit, or preference using verbs like любить (to love or like), you almost always follow them with an imperfective verb. The sentence describes the general process of creating things over time, not one single completed creation.
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