Breakdown of Свидетель утверждает, что он видел преступление.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
видеть
to see
что
that (conjunction)
свидетель
witness
утверждать
to claim
преступление
crime
Questions & Answers about Свидетель утверждает, что он видел преступление.
Why is there a comma before что?
In Russian, you must always put a comma before conjunctions like что (that) when they introduce a reported statement. It separates the main phrase (Свидетель утверждает) from the indirect speech (он видел преступление). This is a strict punctuation rule in Russian, unlike in English where we often leave the comma out.
If the sentence started with 'The witness claimed' (past tense), would the second part change?
No! This highlights a major difference between English and Russian reported speech. In Russian, the reported statement uses the exact same tense the original speaker used. The witness originally said 'I saw' (я видел - past tense), so it stays он видел regardless of whether the main verb is 'claims' (утверждает) or 'claimed' (утверждал).
Why doesn't the word преступление change its ending, since it is the direct object being seen?
It is the direct object, which means it is in the accusative case. However, преступление (crime) is a neuter noun because it ends in -е. Neuter nouns (just like inanimate masculine nouns) do not change their endings in the accusative case. They look exactly the same as their dictionary form.
Why is the imperfective verb видел used here instead of the perfective увидел?
The imperfective видел is used to state the simple, general fact that he was a witness to the event. In Russian, if you just want to establish the fact that a past action happened or that someone has the experience of it, you use the imperfective aspect. The perfective увидел would emphasize the sudden action of 'catching sight of' or 'spotting' the crime.
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