Breakdown of Она смирилась с тем, что реальность гораздо хуже.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
что
that (conjunction)
с
with (also со)
тот
that
гораздо
much (with comparatives)
хуже
worse
реальность
reality
смириться
to come to terms
Questions & Answers about Она смирилась с тем, что реальность гораздо хуже.
Why do we say с тем, что instead of just using что?
In English, we often say 'came to terms with the fact that'. In Russian, the verb смириться requires the preposition с followed by the Instrumental case. However, Russian prepositions cannot attach directly to a что clause. To fix this, we insert the pronoun то in the correct case to act as a bridge. So we get с plus the Instrumental тем, linking the main verb to the rest of the sentence.
Does the verb смириться always take the preposition с?
Yes! The reflexive verb смириться means to resign oneself or to come to terms. It is always followed by the preposition с plus the Instrumental case to show exactly what you are coming to terms with.
Could I say очень хуже instead of гораздо хуже to mean 'much worse'?
No, in Russian you cannot use очень (very) with comparative adjectives. To add emphasis like 'much' or 'by far' before a comparative word like хуже (worse), you must use гораздо or намного.
Since хуже doesn't have a typical feminine ending, how does it agree with the feminine noun реальность?
Хуже is a comparative adjective (worse), derived from плохой (bad). In Russian, simple comparative adjectives have only one fixed form. They do not change to match the gender, number, or case of the noun they describe, so хуже works perfectly for a feminine noun like реальность.
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