Breakdown of Вчера четверо незнакомцев вошли в эти ворота.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
вчера
yesterday
войти
to enter (pf)
ворота
gates
четверо
four (collective)
незнакомец
stranger
Questions & Answers about Вчера четверо незнакомцев вошли в эти ворота.
Why use the collective numeral четверо instead of the regular number четыре?
Четверо is a collective numeral. In Russian, collective numerals like двое, трое, and четверо are commonly used instead of standard numbers for groups of male persons or mixed-gender groups. Since незнакомец (stranger) is a masculine noun referring to a person, четверо is a very natural choice here.
Why is незнакомцев in the Genitive plural?
After collective numerals in the Nominative case (like четверо acting as the subject of the sentence), the noun that follows must be in the Genitive Plural. So, the singular незнакомец becomes the Genitive Plural незнакомцев.
Does the word ворота follow the same collective numeral rules?
Yes! In fact, collective numerals are strictly required when counting nouns that only exist in the plural. Since ворота (gates) has no singular form in Russian, if you wanted to count the gates themselves, you would have to say двое ворот, трое ворот, or четверо ворот.
Why does the verb вошли have the prefix во- instead of just в-?
The prefix в- means "in" or "into." The base verb is шли (walked). Because шли starts with two consonants, adding just в- would create a consonant cluster that is hard to pronounce (вшли). Russian adds an о to make it вошли for smoother pronunciation.
Why is the phrase в эти ворота in the Accusative case?
The preposition в takes the Accusative case when describing the direction of motion (entering into a destination). If the strangers were already inside doing something stationary, you would use the Prepositional case, but here they are actively moving into the gates.
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