Breakdown of Мальчик отходит от железнодорожного пути.
мальчик
boy
от
from
путь
track / path (route, journey)
отходить
to depart / step away (impf)
железнодорожный
railway
Questions & Answers about Мальчик отходит от железнодорожного пути.
Why is the ending of пути here -и instead of the usual masculine genitive ending -а or -я?
The word путь (way/track) is an anomalous masculine noun. Even though it is masculine, in the Genitive, Dative, and Prepositional cases it takes the ending -и, copying the pattern of feminine nouns that end in a soft sign. Here it is in the Genitive case because it follows the preposition от.
Since пути takes a feminine-style ending, why is the adjective железнодорожного masculine?
Because путь is still grammatically a masculine noun, regardless of its weird endings. Adjectives always agree with the noun's actual gender, so we use the standard masculine Genitive ending -ого for железнодорожный.
Why are there two отs in отходит от?
In Russian, verbs of motion with a prefix often pair with a matching preposition to complete the meaning. The prefix от- on отходит means moving away, and it strongly pairs with the preposition от (from) to specify what the subject is moving away from.
How is the long adjective железнодорожного formed?
It is a compound adjective created from the phrase железная дорога (railway, literally iron road). The two root words are joined by the connecting vowel -о-, creating the base железнодорожный.
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