Breakdown of Тот, кто звонил, хочет, чтобы представитель поехал в посольство.
кто
who / whoever
звонить
to call
хотеть
to want
в
in / to (direction)
тот
that
поехать
to go (by transport)
чтобы
in order to
представитель
the representative
посольство
the embassy
Questions & Answers about Тот, кто звонил, хочет, чтобы представитель поехал в посольство.
Why is поехал in the past tense if the person wants the representative to go in the future?
This is the core rule of чтобы when there is a subject change. When person A wants person B to do something, Russian uses чтобы + the past tense of the verb. Even though the action has not happened yet, the grammar strictly requires the past tense form (поехал).
The English translation says "wants the representative to go". Why doesn't the Russian use an infinitive like "хочет представителя поехать"?
In English, we can use an infinitive for a different person ("wants him to go"). Russian does not do this! If the subject changes, meaning the person who wants (the caller) is different from the person doing the action (the representative), you must start a new clause with чтобы and use a new subject in the nominative case (представитель).
How does the phrase Тот, кто work at the beginning of the sentence?
Тот, кто translates to "The one who" or "He who". Тот is a demonstrative pronoun ("that one"), and кто acts as the subject of the relative clause кто звонил ("who called"). Notice that Russian requires commas to separate the "who called" clause from the rest of the sentence.
Why use поехал instead of пошёл or ехал?
Going to an embassy usually implies taking transport, which is why a verb of riding (ехал) is used rather than walking (шёл). The prefix по- makes it perfective, focusing on the result of setting off or successfully making the trip, rather than the ongoing process of traveling.
Is в посольство in the accusative or prepositional case?
It is in the accusative case because it indicates the destination or direction of motion ("to the embassy"). Since посольство is a neuter, inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative form. If it were in the prepositional case to indicate static location ("in the embassy"), it would be в посольстве.
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