Breakdown of Мне удалось уговорить брата бросить курить.
брат
brother
мне
to me
курить
to smoke
уговорить
to persuade
удаться
to manage / to succeed (perfective)
бросить
to quit / to throw
Questions & Answers about Мне удалось уговорить брата бросить курить.
Why is the verb удалось in the neuter form if I am talking about myself?
Удаться (to manage / succeed) is an impersonal verb. The person who succeeds is the receiver of the success, so they take the Dative case (мне). When an impersonal verb is followed by an infinitive in the past tense, it always takes the default neuter singular ending (-ось).
Is it normal to chain three infinitives together like уговорить бросить курить?
Yes, this is very common! Each verb simply triggers the next one, just like in English. The impersonal удалось (managed) needs an infinitive (уговорить). Then, to persuade needs an action to persuade about (бросить). Finally, to quit needs an action to quit (курить).
Why is брата used here instead of the nominative брат?
The brother is the direct object being persuaded, so the noun must be in the Accusative case. Because брат is an animate masculine noun (a living person or animal), its Accusative form changes to match the Genitive form (брата).
Why are уговорить and бросить perfective, but курить is imperfective?
Уговорить and бросить are perfective because they describe single, successfully completed actions. However, бросить (to quit/stop) is a phase verb (a verb about starting, continuing, or stopping). In Russian, verbs that mean to stop or to start must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive, because you are stopping a continuous habit or process (курить).
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