Breakdown of Полезно писать заметки, слушая подкасты.
слушать
to listen
писать
to write
полезный
healthy, good for you (of food) / useful
подкаст
the podcast
заметка
the note
Questions & Answers about Полезно писать заметки, слушая подкасты.
How do we get the form слушая?
Слушая is an imperfective verbal adverb, meaning "while listening". To form it, you take the "they" form of the present tense verb (они слушают), drop the -ют ending, and add -я.
Why is the imperfective verbal adverb слушая used here rather than a perfective one?
Imperfective verbal adverbs express a background action happening at the exact same time as the main verb. Here, the listening happens simultaneously with the writing (писать). If you wanted to say "having listened" (an action completed before writing), you would use a perfective verbal adverb instead.
Both заметки and подкасты end in plural suffixes. What case are they in?
They are both in the accusative plural because they are direct objects. Заметки receives the action of писать (to write notes), and подкасты receives the action of слушая (listening to podcasts). Verbal adverbs govern nouns in the exact same cases as their base verbs do!
Why doesn't полезно писать have a subject pronoun like "it"?
Полезно is an impersonal word meaning "it is useful". To express "it is [adjective] to do [action]" in Russian, you simply use the neuter short form of the adjective (ending in -о) followed immediately by an infinitive. No dummy subject pronouns are needed.
Is the comma before слушая required?
Yes! In Russian punctuation, any phrase containing a verbal adverb (called a деепричастный оборот) must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, regardless of whether it comes at the beginning, middle, or end.
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