Breakdown of Они изучают историю по именам и временам.
и
and
они
they
изучать
to study
история
history
время
time
по
by means of, using
имя
name
Questions & Answers about Они изучают историю по именам и временам.
Why do the words имя and время change to именам and временам?
These are special neuter nouns ending in -мя. When they decline in the plural, they add the stem extension -ен- before the case ending. Because the preposition по requires the dative case here, we add the standard dative plural ending -ам, resulting in именам and временам.
Why is the dative case used after the preposition по?
The preposition по most commonly takes the dative case, particularly when it translates to by, according to, or along. In this sentence, studying history by names and times means they are using them as their guiding method or framework, which fits the standard dative use of по.
Does временам refer to times on a clock or durations?
No. While the singular время means time in general, the plural form времена usually refers to historical eras, epochs, or generations. In this context, they are studying history by looking at specific historical ages.
Why is the word for history spelled историю instead of история?
The noun история is the direct object receiving the action of the verb изучают (they study). Therefore, it must be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -я, the accusative ending changes to -ю.
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