Breakdown of Весь народ пришёл посмотреть на этот обычай.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
посмотреть
to watch (perfective) / to look at (perfective)
прийти
to arrive (on foot, pf)
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
народ
people / nation (a people, collective)
обычай
custom
Questions & Answers about Весь народ пришёл посмотреть на этот обычай.
Why is пришёл in the singular when "the whole nation" means a lot of people?
In Russian, народ (nation, people) is grammatically a singular masculine noun. Because of this, any adjectives describing it (like весь) and verbs attached to it (like пришёл) must also be in the singular masculine form.
Why do we need the preposition на here instead of just saying посмотреть этот обычай?
When you mean "to look at" or "to direct your attention to" something, смотреть or посмотреть takes на followed by the Accusative case. If you drop the на, it usually means to watch a continuous media performance (like a movie) or to physically inspect an object.
Why is the verb посмотреть perfective here instead of the imperfective смотреть?
The people came to see this specific event happen once, as a completed action. When you use a verb of motion (like пришёл) to state your purpose for going somewhere, you generally use the perfective infinitive if the goal is a single, specific result.
What case is этот обычай in, and why does it look exactly like the dictionary form?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the object of the preposition на. However, because обычай (custom) is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative (dictionary) form. The demonstrative pronoun этот follows the exact same rule.
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