Word
Мы приготовили фасоль вместо мяса.
Meaning
We cooked beans instead of meat.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Мы приготовили фасоль вместо мяса.
мы
we
мясо
meat
приготовить
to cook (perfective)
вместо
instead of
Questions & Answers about Мы приготовили фасоль вместо мяса.
Why does мясо become мяса in this sentence?
The preposition вместо (instead of) requires the Genitive case. Because мясо is a neuter noun, its Genitive form changes the final -о to -а, making it мяса.
In English, "beans" is plural. Why is фасоль singular here?
In Russian, фасоль is a collective noun. Just like "rice" or "corn" in English, Russian treats beans as a singular, uncountable mass rather than individual plural items.
If фасоль is the direct object being cooked, why didn't its ending change to show the Accusative case?
It actually is in the Accusative case! Фасоль is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign. Because it is an inanimate object, its Accusative form is exactly the same as its Nominative form.
Why use the perfective verb приготовили instead of готовили?
We use the perfective verb приготовили because it emphasizes the successful, completed result of the action - the meal was finished. If we used the imperfective готовили, it would only describe the process of cooking.