Breakdown of Мой брат вчера вернулся из командировки.
брат
brother
мой
my / mine
вчера
yesterday
из
out of
командировка
business trip
вернуться
to return (pf)
Questions & Answers about Мой брат вчера вернулся из командировки.
This lesson is about arrival verbs like приехать. Could I use one of those here instead of вернулся?
Yes! The verb вернулся specifically means 'returned' or 'came back.' If you want to use a verb of motion with the при- (arrival) prefix, you could say приехал из командировки (arrived/came back from a business trip). Both are very common and mean almost exactly the same thing in this context.
Why is 'from a business trip' translated with из instead of с?
The preposition for 'from' depends on the preposition used for 'to.' Because you go on a business trip using в (в командировку), you must return from it using из (из командировки). If you had gone somewhere using на (like на работу), you would return using с (с работы).
What case is командировки here?
It is in the Genitive case. The preposition из (from/out of) always requires the Genitive case. The dictionary form is командировка (a feminine word ending in -а), so the ending changes to -и in the Genitive.
Why does the verb вернулся end in -ся?
The -ся ending makes the verb reflexive. The base verb вернуть means to return an object (like returning a book). When a person returns themselves (comes back), you must use the reflexive form вернуться. Since брат is a masculine noun and the action happened in the past, it becomes вернулся.
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