Breakdown of Я прятался за ветками и ни на кого не полагался.
и
and
не
not
я
I
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
никто
nobody
прятаться
to hide
за
behind
полагаться
to rely
ветка
branch
Questions & Answers about Я прятался за ветками и ни на кого не полагался.
Why is it ни на кого instead of на никого?
In Russian, when a negative pronoun like никто (no one) or ничто (nothing) is used with a preposition, the preposition physically splits the word. The prefix ни- breaks off and goes before the preposition, creating a three-word phrase: ни + на + кого.
Why does the pronoun change to кого here?
The verb полагаться (to rely) is always followed by the preposition на plus the accusative case to show who you are relying on. The accusative form of никто is никого. When you split it with the preposition на, it becomes ни на кого.
Why do we need не before полагался if we already said ни на кого?
Russian requires double negatives. Whenever you use a negative pronoun like никто (no one) or a split form like ни на кого, the main verb must also be negated with не. Literally, this sentence says "I hid behind the branches and on no one did not rely."
Why is за ветками in the instrumental case?
The preposition за takes the instrumental case when it indicates a static location (answering "where?"), such as hiding behind something. If it indicated motion toward a destination (answering "to where?"), like actively running behind the branches, it would take the accusative case (за ветки).
Learn Я прятался за ветками и ни на кого не полагался and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free