Breakdown of Мы заботимся о нашей свекрови.
мы
we
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
о
about (о, об, обо)
заботиться
to care
свекровь
mother-in-law (husband's mother)
Questions & Answers about Мы заботимся о нашей свекрови.
Why doesn't свекровь add the -ер- suffix in the prepositional case like мать does?
Although свекровь (husband's mother) ends in a soft sign just like мать, it is a standard 3rd declension feminine noun. Only the irregular nouns мать and дочь add the special -ер- stem in their oblique cases (becoming матери and дочери). For свекровь, you simply change the soft sign to -и to get свекрови.
Why do we use the prepositional case (о нашей свекрови) here?
The verb заботиться (to care for, to look after) requires the preposition о (or об before a vowel) plus the prepositional case to indicate who or what is being cared for.
Does свекровь mean any mother-in-law?
No, Russian is very specific about in-laws! Свекровь is strictly a husband's mother. If you are talking about a wife's mother, you must use the word тёща.
Why does the verb заботимся end in -ся?
Заботиться is a reflexive verb, which is why it has the -ся (or -сь) suffix. Unlike some reflexive verbs that indicate doing an action to yourself, here the suffix is just a permanent part of the word. We use -ся instead of -сь because it follows a consonant in the мы conjugation (заботимся).
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