Questions & Answers about Мама простила сына.
Why is the perfective verb простила used here instead of the imperfective?
Простила is the perfective past tense of 'to forgive'. It is used here because forgiving the son was a single, completed action that achieved a clear result. If we used the imperfective form (прощала), it would mean she 'was forgiving' him over a period of time, or she 'used to forgive' him repeatedly.
Why does the word for son (сын) end in -а here (сына)?
The son is the direct object receiving the action (he is the one being forgiven), so the word must be in the accusative case. Because a son is a living person (animate), masculine nouns in the accusative case take the ending -а. This makes it look like a feminine word, but it is just a special rule for masculine people and animals!
Why does the verb простила end in -а?
In the past tense, Russian verbs must match the gender of the subject doing the action. Since мама is a feminine noun, the verb takes the feminine past tense ending -а. If a dad (папа) had forgiven him, it would be the masculine form: простил.
The English translation says 'Mum forgave her son', but where is the word for 'her' in Russian?
Russian often drops possessive words like 'my', 'his', or 'her' when the context makes it obvious. Since mothers usually forgive their own children, adding the Russian word for 'her' isn't necessary here, though it wouldn't be grammatically wrong to include it.
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