Breakdown of Ему не удалось найти новую работу, и он переехал.
и
and
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
новый
new
работа
work, job
найти
to find
переехать
to move
удаться
to manage / to succeed (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Ему не удалось найти новую работу, и он переехал.
Why do we use ему instead of он at the beginning of the sentence?
The verb удаться (to manage/to succeed) is impersonal in Russian. This means the person who succeeds or manages to do something is not the grammatical subject, so they must be put in the Dative case. Therefore, он (he) becomes ему (to him).
Why is удалось in the neuter form if the sentence is about a man?
Because удалось is an impersonal verb here, it does not agree with the person (who is in the Dative case). In the past tense, Russian impersonal verbs always take the default neuter singular form, which is why it ends in -ось rather than the masculine -ся.
Why are we using the perfective verbs удалось and найти instead of their imperfective partners?
The sentence focuses on the final result of a specific event. He made an attempt to find a job and the final result was a failure. If you used the imperfective не удавалось находить, it would mean he repeatedly failed to find jobs over a long continuous period of time.
What does the prefix пере- add to the word переехал?
The base verb ехать means to go or travel by vehicle. The prefix пере- usually indicates movement across something or changing locations. Together, переехать is the standard verb used to say someone moved to a new home or city.
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