Breakdown of Мой брат должен взять с собой кроссовки и спортивную форму.
и
and
брат
brother
мой
my / mine
взять
to take / to adopt
с
with (also со)
должен
must, have to
себя
oneself (себе: Dat/Prep)
кроссовки
the sneakers
спортивный
athletic
форма
the kit
Questions & Answers about Мой брат должен взять с собой кроссовки и спортивную форму.
Why do we use с собой here instead of с ним (with him)?
собой is the instrumental case of the reflexive pronoun себя (oneself). In Russian, when the person doing the action (the subject, мой брат) is the same person the action refers back to, you must use the reflexive pronoun. We translate it as "with him", but literally it means "with himself". If you used с ним, it would mean your brother is taking the items with some other guy!
How does the word должен (must) work in this sentence?
Why do we use the perfective verb взять rather than the imperfective брать?
We use the perfective взять because we are talking about a single, one-time action: packing or grabbing these specific items for an event. If the sentence was talking about a repeated habit, like "He always takes sneakers," we would use the imperfective брать.
Why does the phrase спортивная форма change to спортивную форму?
The sports uniform is the direct object being taken, so it must be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -а, the ending changes to -у (форма becomes форму), and the matching adjective ending changes from -ая to -ую (спортивная becomes спортивную). Notice that кроссовки (sneakers) doesn't change because it is an inanimate plural noun, which looks exactly the same in the nominative and accusative cases.
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