Breakdown of Турист медленно лёг на шезлонг.
медленно
slowly
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
турист
tourist
лечь
to lie down
шезлонг
deckchair
Questions & Answers about Турист медленно лёг на шезлонг.
Why do we say на шезлонг (Accusative) instead of на шезлонге (Prepositional)?
Because the tourist is performing an action directed at a destination (assuming a position), rather than just resting there. Verbs of assuming a position like лечь (to lie down), сесть (to sit down), and встать (to stand up) take в or на plus the Accusative case. If he were already resting there, we would use the static verb лежать with the Prepositional case: турист лежит на шезлонге.
The past tense of лечь is лёг. Why doesn't it end in the usual -л?
The perfective verb лечь (to lie down) is irregular. Its past tense drops the standard -л in the masculine form, becoming лёг. However, the other past tense forms bring the -л back: легла (feminine), легло (neuter), and легли (plural).
Is шезлонг actually in the Accusative case here? It looks exactly like the Nominative dictionary form.
Yes, it is Accusative! The word шезлонг (deckchair) is an inanimate masculine noun. In Russian, inanimate masculine nouns have the exact same form in the Accusative case as they do in the Nominative case.
Why use the perfective verb лёг instead of the imperfective ложился if the action was done медленно (slowly)?
Even though the action took some time to happen, it was still a single, successfully completed event in the past. The tourist reached his final position. You would only use the imperfective ложился to emphasize an interrupted process (he was in the middle of lying down when something else happened) or a repeated habit.
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