Breakdown of Эти военные вернутся через месяц.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
месяц
month
вернуться
to return (pf)
через
in (after a period of time)
военный
the military man
Questions & Answers about Эти военные вернутся через месяц.
Why does the word военные look like an adjective if it translates to the noun phrase "military men"?
The word военные is a substantivized adjective. This means it functions as a noun (acting as the subject of the sentence here), but it keeps the endings of a regular adjective. If you need to change its case in other sentences, you will decline it exactly like a standard plural adjective.
Why is there no soft sign after the т at the end of вернутся?
Because this is the conjugated third-person plural form meaning "they will return", not the infinitive. A classic trick to remember this spelling rule is to ask the Russian question for the verb: what will they do? (что они сделают?). Since there is no soft sign in сделают, there is no soft sign in вернутся.
How do we know вернутся means "will return" rather than "are returning"?
The verb вернуться is a perfective verb, which means it focuses on the completion or result of an action. When you conjugate a perfective verb using standard present-tense endings, it automatically creates the future tense.
Why is через used here instead of в to mean "in"?
When you want to say that an event will happen a certain amount of time from now (like "in a month"), Russian uses the preposition через followed by the accusative case. It literally gives the sense of passing "through" the upcoming month to reach the time of the event.
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