Breakdown of Они говорили о четырёх новых поставщиках, которые доставляют груз.
они
they
новый
new
говорить
to speak, to talk
о
about (о, об, обо)
четыре
four
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
груз
cargo
поставщик
supplier
доставлять
to deliver
Questions & Answers about Они говорили о четырёх новых поставщиках, которые доставляют груз.
I thought numbers 2, 3, and 4 take the genitive singular. Why do we use the prepositional plural поставщиках here?
You are thinking of the nominative (and inanimate accusative) cases, where you would indeed say четыре новых поставщика. However, in oblique cases like the prepositional, the rule changes: the number, adjective, and noun all agree and take the plural form of that specific case. Because the preposition о requires the prepositional case, the entire phrase is in the prepositional plural.
Why does the word for "four" have a ё in четырёх?
The base number is четыре, but it changes its stem slightly when declining into oblique cases. In the prepositional case, it becomes четырёх. You will also see this exact same form in the genitive case and the animate accusative case.
Why is которые in the nominative case if it refers to suppliers that are in the prepositional case?
которые introduces a brand new clause with its own grammar rules. In the main sentence, the suppliers are the object of the preposition о, but in the second clause, которые acts as the subject (they are the ones doing the delivering). Therefore, it must be in the nominative case.
Could we use the perfective verb сказали instead of the imperfective говорили here?
It would sound unnatural here. говорить о means "to talk about" or "to discuss," which implies an ongoing conversation. The perfective сказать focuses on a single completed action, like stating a specific fact or delivering a message, which doesn't fit the context of discussing the suppliers.
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