Breakdown of Студент, окончив бакалавриат, поступил в магистратуру.
студент
student (m)
в
in / to (direction)
окончить
to finish, graduate from
поступить
to enroll
Questions & Answers about Студент, окончив бакалавриат, поступил в магистратуру.
How is the word окончив formed here?
It is a perfective verbal adverb. You form it by taking the past tense of the perfective verb окончить (to finish), dropping the masculine ending -л, and adding the suffix -в. It translates to "having finished" and shows that this action was fully completed before the main action (поступил) happened.
Why are there commas around the phrase окончив бакалавриат?
In Russian, whenever a verbal adverb has attached words (like its direct object, бакалавриат), it creates a verbal adverb phrase (деепричастный оборот). This phrase must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, regardless of where it is placed.
Could we use the imperfective form оканчивая instead?
Not in this context. The imperfective form оканчивая means "while finishing." If you used it here, it would mean the student enrolled in the master's program at the exact same time he was finishing the bachelor's. Because one action clearly finished before the next started, the perfective окончив is required.
Why does the sentence use the Accusative case for в магистратуру instead of the Prepositional case?
The verb поступить (to enroll / to enter) indicates a direction or a transition into a new place or status, so it requires the preposition в plus the Accusative case. You would use the Prepositional case (в магистратуре) only to describe a static location, such as if the student were already studying there (он учится в магистратуре).