Breakdown of Секретарь рассылает документы по отделам.
секретарь
secretary
документ
document
по
along, around
отдел
department
рассылать
to send out
Questions & Answers about Секретарь рассылает документы по отделам.
Why use по отделам instead of в отделы for "to the departments"?
In Russian, по + Dative plural is used to express distribution. While в отделы simply gives the direction "into the departments", по отделам emphasizes that the documents are being distributed around to various or among the different departments.
How does the verb рассылает relate to the distributive meaning of по?
The verb рассылает comes from the base verb слать (to send). The prefix рас- adds the meaning of spreading or distributing things in multiple directions. This perfectly matches the distributive "around to" meaning of по отделам.
What case is отделам and why?
It is in the Dative plural case. The preposition по, when used for distributive actions or moving around multiple locations, requires the Dative case. For a masculine noun like отдел (department), the Dative plural ending is -ам.
Why is the imperfective verb рассылает used here instead of a perfective form?
The imperfective is used to show that this is either a regular routine (a standard part of the secretary's job) or an ongoing process. If it were a single, completed action in the future, you would use the perfective form разошлёт.
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