Breakdown of Выписывай неизвестные слова, читая этот текст.
текст
text
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
читать
to read
слово
word
выписывать
to write out
неизвестный
unknown
Questions & Answers about Выписывай неизвестные слова, читая этот текст.
How is читая formed, and what does it tell us about the timeline of the sentence?
Читая is an imperfective verbal adverb meaning "while reading." It is formed by taking the "they" form of the verb (читают), dropping the ending, and adding -я. Because it is imperfective, it tells us this action happens at the exact same time as the main verb (выписывай).
Why is the main verb выписывай imperfective, instead of the perfective выпиши?
The imperfective выписывай is used because writing out the words is an ongoing, repeated action during the reading process. If the perfective выпиши were used, it would imply a single completed action, like writing them all out in one go after you finish the text.
Does the verbal adverb читая control the case of этот текст just like a normal verb would?
Yes! Verbal adverbs govern nouns exactly like their regular verb counterparts. Because the verb читать takes a direct object in the accusative case (to read something), читая also requires the accusative case (этот текст).
Why is there a comma before читая?
In Russian punctuation rules, a verbal adverb and any words attached to it (forming an adverbial phrase like читая этот текст) must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
Why don't the endings change for неизвестные слова even though it is a direct object?
It is indeed in the accusative case because it receives the action of выписывай. However, because words are inanimate objects, their accusative plural form is completely identical to their nominative plural (dictionary) form.
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