Breakdown of Мачеха хочет помочь моей матери.
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
хотеть
to want
мать
mother
помочь
to help (perfective)
мачеха
stepmother
Questions & Answers about Мачеха хочет помочь моей матери.
Why does the word for "mother" change to матери here?
The verb помочь (to help) always requires its object to be in the dative case. Мать is an irregular noun; in all cases except the nominative and accusative singular, it adds the special stem extension -ер-. The dative ending -и is then added, making it матери.
Why is the possessive pronoun in the form моей?
Pronouns must match the noun they describe in case, gender, and number. Since матери is in the dative feminine singular, мой (my) changes to its dative feminine form, моей.
Why use the perfective verb помочь instead of the imperfective помогать?
The perfective помочь indicates that the stepmother wants to provide help in a specific, single instance or to see the result of the help. If she wanted to help regularly as a habit, you would use the imperfective помогать.
Does the word мачеха (stepmother) have the same irregular -ер- stem as мать?
No, мачеха is a regular feminine noun ending in -а, so it declines just like normal nouns. Only мать (mother) and дочь (daughter) use the special -ер- stem. If the mother were helping the stepmother, it would be Мать хочет помочь мачехе.
Learn Мачеха хочет помочь моей матери 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