Learn Russian: Обе девушки ревновали друг друга.

Обе девушки ревновали друг друга.

Both girls were jealous of each other.

Breakdown of Обе девушки ревновали друг друга.

Questions & Answers about Обе девушки ревновали друг друга.

In English we say jealous OF each other. Why is there no preposition before друг друга?

Unlike English, the Russian verb ревновать (to be jealous) takes a direct object. This means it requires the accusative case with no preposition. As always with the reciprocal pronoun, the first друг stays frozen, while the second takes the required case, becoming the accusative друга.

Why do we use Обе instead of Оба for Both?

The word for both changes depending on the gender of the noun. Оба is used for masculine and neuter nouns, while обе is the feminine form, which we must use here to match the feminine noun девушка.

What case is девушки in after Обе?

Just like the number две (two), the word обе requires the following noun to be in the genitive singular case. So девушки here is actually genitive singular, even though it happens to look exactly the same as the nominative plural.

Why is the verb ревновали in the imperfective aspect?

Jealousy is an ongoing feeling or continuous emotional state rather than a single, completed action with a clear result. Russian uses the imperfective aspect to express these continuous states.