Breakdown of После того как суд решил освободить человека, тот поехал домой.
человек
person
домой
home
тот
that
решить
to decide (perfective)
Questions & Answers about После того как суд решил освободить человека, тот поехал домой.
Why do we need the whole phrase "после того как" instead of just using "после"?
The word после (after) is a preposition that can only be followed by a noun or pronoun, like in после суда (after the trial). Because the next part of this sentence is a full clause with its own subject and verb (суд решил), Russian requires the conjunction phrase после того как (literally: after that how) to connect them.
Why does the sentence use "тот" instead of "он" to say "he went home"?
If the sentence used он (he/it), it could be confusing because the main subject, суд (court), is also a masculine noun. Using the demonstrative pronoun тот (that one) specifically points back to the object of the previous clause, человека, making it perfectly clear that the person went home, not the court.
Why is the word for person "человека" instead of "человек"?
It is the direct object of the verb освободить (to release), so it must be in the accusative case. For animate masculine nouns like человек, the accusative case takes the exact same ending as the genitive case, resulting in человека.
Why is the verb "поехал" used here instead of "ехал"?
поехал is a perfective verb of motion meaning "set off" or "departed." It emphasizes the completed action of starting the journey home after the release. ехал is imperfective and would focus on the continuous process of being on the road, which doesn't fit this sequence of one-time events.