Breakdown of Мой любопытный брат догадывается о сюрпризе.
брат
brother
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
о
about (о, об, обо)
любопытный
curious
догадываться
to guess
сюрприз
surprise
Questions & Answers about Мой любопытный брат догадывается о сюрпризе.
Why does this sentence use о сюрпризе instead of just translating 'the surprise' as a direct object?
The verb догадываться (to guess or suspect) requires the preposition о (about) followed by the prepositional case. Unlike the English phrase 'guessing the surprise', Russian requires you to say that he is guessing about it.
How would I say he is guessing 'about something' using the кое- pronouns from this lesson?
You would use кое-что (something). However, there is a special rule for these pronouns: when they are used with a preposition, the preposition splits the pronoun in two. Instead of о кое-чём, the preposition steps inside to make кое о чём. The sentence would be: Мой брат догадывается кое о чём.
Why does догадывается have the reflexive -ся ending if he isn't guessing himself?
Not all verbs with the -ся suffix mean you are doing an action to yourself. Often, it just slightly changes the meaning of the base verb. While гадать means 'to guess' (like a random guess in a game) or 'to tell fortunes', adding the prefix до- and the suffix -ся creates догадываться, meaning 'to figure out', 'to suspect', or 'to form an educated guess'.
Why use the imperfective догадывается here rather than the perfective догадается?
Because the action is ongoing in the present tense. Догадывается is imperfective, showing that he is currently in the process of suspecting or putting the clues together. The perfective догадается would shift the sentence into the future tense, meaning he will figure it out completely.
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