Breakdown of Мне нравится, что двое моих напарников приехали вовремя.
я
I
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
нравиться
to please / to appeal
что
that (conjunction)
вовремя
on time
приехать
to arrive (by transport, pf)
двое
two (collective)
напарник
partner (workmate, teammate)
Questions & Answers about Мне нравится, что двое моих напарников приехали вовремя.
Why do we use the collective numeral двое here instead of just два?
Двое emphasizes that these people are a single, unified group or a pair acting together. While два моих напарника (two of my partners) is also grammatically correct, using the collective numeral двое is very common and natural for masculine nouns referring to groups of people.
Why is it моих напарников in the Genitive Plural? Doesn't the number two normally take the Genitive Singular?
Regular numbers like два, три, and четыре (when in the Nominative case) take the Genitive Singular, so you would say два моих напарника. However, collective numerals like двое follow a different rule: they take the Genitive Plural. That is why it changes to моих напарников.
Why is the verb приехали in the plural form?
When a collective numeral like двое is the subject and refers to animate nouns (people), the verb usually takes the plural form to reflect that multiple people are performing the action together.
Why is нравится in the singular form, even though the sentence talks about multiple partners?
The verb нравиться agrees with the thing that is pleasing to you. Here, you don't just like the partners themselves; you like the fact that they arrived on time. The entire clause starting with что (that) acts as the grammatical subject. When a whole clause is the subject, the verb takes the default third-person singular form.
Is the word вовремя just a combination of во (in) and время (time)?
Yes! It literally translates to "in time." However, be careful with your pronunciation: when these words combine into the single adverb вовремя (on time), the stress completely shifts to the very first syllable (ВО-вре-мя), unlike the standalone noun вре́мя.
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