Breakdown of Мы обрадовались вашему приглашению.
мы
we
ваш
your [formal/plural]
обрадоваться
to become glad
приглашение
invitation
Questions & Answers about Мы обрадовались вашему приглашению.
The English translation says "happy about your invitation." Why is there no preposition for "about" before вашему приглашению?
In Russian, verbs that express emotions, like being glad (радоваться / обрадоваться) or being surprised (удивляться / удивиться), take the Dative case directly without any preposition. Instead of saying you are glad about something, think of it literally as "we rejoiced to your invitation."
Why use the perfective verb обрадовались instead of the imperfective радовались?
Emotion verbs often use the perfective aspect to highlight a sudden change in feeling. Мы радовались (imperfective) would mean "we were in a continuous state of rejoicing" over a period of time. Мы обрадовались (perfective) specifically means "we became happy" or "we got glad" right at the moment we received the invitation.
I know neuter nouns usually take -у in the Dative case. Why does приглашение end in -ю here?
Neuter nouns that end in a hard -о (like окно) take -у (окну). However, neuter nouns that end in a soft -е or -ие, like приглашение (invitation), take the soft Dative ending -ю, which makes it приглашению.
Just as a refresher, why does the reflexive verb end in -сь instead of -ся here?
The reflexive suffix changes depending on the letter right before it. You use -ся after consonants (such as the past masculine form обрадовался). You must shorten it to -сь after vowels, such as the plural -и ending in обрадовались.
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