Questions & Answers about Анна пекла торт час.
Why is there no Russian word for 'for' in this sentence?
To express how long an ongoing action lasted (duration), Russian simply uses the time word in the Accusative case without any preposition. So 'for an hour' is just час.
Why do we use the imperfective verb пекла instead of a perfective verb?
We use the imperfective aspect here because the sentence focuses on the continuous process and duration of the action ('was baking'). If we wanted to say Anna completely finished the cake in an hour, we would switch to the perfective verb (испекла) and add the preposition за (за час).
What case are торт and час in? They look like their dictionary forms.
They are both in the Accusative case! Торт is the direct object (the thing she was baking), and час is in the Accusative to show time duration. Because both are masculine inanimate nouns, their Accusative forms are exactly the same as their Nominative (dictionary) forms.
What is the infinitive of пекла and why does it have a 'к' in it?
The infinitive is печь (to bake). Verbs ending in -чь have unusual past tense forms where a к or г pops up. Because Анна is feminine, we add -ла, making it пекла. For a masculine subject, it would be пёк.