Breakdown of Гагарин — первый человек, который увидел нашу планету из космоса.
человек
person
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
первый
first (1st)
из
out of
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
планета
planet
космос
space, cosmos
увидеть
to see, to catch sight of (perfective)
Гагарин
Gagarin
Questions & Answers about Гагарин — первый человек, который увидел нашу планету из космоса.
This lesson covers surnames ending in -ин. If we needed to say "with Gagarin" or "about Gagarin", how would his name decline?
Surnames ending in -ов, -ев, and -ин like Гагарин decline mostly like regular masculine nouns, but they have one major exception: in the Instrumental case, they take the adjective ending -ым instead of -ом. So "with Gagarin" translates to с Гагариным. The Prepositional case remains regular, so "about Gagarin" is о Гагарине.
Why is there a dash (—) right after Гагарин?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" is skipped. When you link two nouns in the Nominative case (like the subject Гагарин and the noun it equals, человек), you use a dash in writing to represent that missing "is".
Why is который used to mean "who" here instead of кто?
While кто is used as a question word or in general statements (like "everyone who"), который is a relative pronoun that links a descriptive clause to a specific noun. Because "who" refers directly back to the specific noun человек (person), you must use который. It acts like an adjective and takes the masculine singular form to match.
Why does the sentence use the perfective verb увидел instead of the imperfective видел?
The perfective увидел emphasizes the sudden, completed action of catching sight of the planet for the very first time. Using the imperfective видел would just mean he was in the general process of looking at it, which loses the focus on his single, historic achievement.
Why is the preposition из used in из космоса instead of с or от?
Choosing the right word for "from" depends on the preposition you would use for "in" or "at" that location. Because you say you are "in space" (в космосе), you must use из (out of / from inside) for the return direction. You would only use с if you were returning from на (on).
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