Breakdown of Студенты часто подходят к учителю после урока.
студент
student (m)
учитель
teacher
часто
often
урок
lesson
после
after
к
towards, to
подходить
to approach, to come up to (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Студенты часто подходят к учителю после урока.
Why use к here instead of в or на to say to the teacher?
In Russian, you cannot use в (in) or на (on) when talking about going to a person. To express movement towards a person, you must use the preposition к (towards), which is always followed by the Dative case.
What case is учителю, and how is the ending formed?
It is in the Dative case, triggered by the preposition к. The dictionary form is учитель (teacher). Because it is a masculine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь), it takes the soft Dative ending -ю instead of the standard -у.
Does the verb подходят have a special connection to the preposition к?
Yes! The verb подходить (to approach or to go up to) has the prefix под-, which means moving closely up to an object or person. Motion verbs with this prefix are almost always paired with к.
Why does the word for lesson change to урока at the end of the sentence?
The preposition после (after) always requires the Genitive case. Therefore, the standard masculine noun урок (lesson) takes the Genitive ending -а to become урока.
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