Breakdown of После того как следователь допросил свидетеля, полиция арестовала преступника.
полиция
police
преступник
criminal
свидетель
witness
после того как
after (conjunction)
следователь
the investigator
допросить
to interrogate
арестовать
to arrest
Questions & Answers about После того как следователь допросил свидетеля, полиция арестовала преступника.
Why do we need the long phrase После того как? Can't we just say После?
После (after) is a preposition that can only be followed by a noun or pronoun in the Genitive case, like после работы (after work). Because we are introducing a full clause with its own subject and verb (следователь допросил), we must use the compound conjunction после того как.
Why do the direct objects свидетеля and преступника end in -а? Doesn't that make them Genitive?
They are actually in the Accusative case because they are the direct objects of their verbs. However, for animate masculine nouns (people and animals), the Accusative case endings are identical to the Genitive case endings. Since a witness and a criminal are both people, they take the -а ending here.
Why are both verbs (допросил and арестовала) in the perfective aspect?
The perfective aspect focuses on completed actions and results. In complex sentences with после того как, using the perfective past for both verbs shows a clear sequence of finished, one-time events: first the interrogation was fully completed, and as a result, the arrest happened.
Shouldn't there be a comma before как in После того как?
Usually, when После того как starts a sentence, it acts as one solid block and does not get a comma inside it. The only comma needed is the one separating the "after" clause from the main clause, which is why it goes right before полиция.
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