Breakdown of Если медведь убежит из клетки, мы не найдём его в лесу.
не
not
мы
we
в
in / to (direction)
его
him / it (acc)
найти
to find
из
out of
медведь
bear
лес
forest, wood
если
if
убежать
to run away
клетка
cage
Questions & Answers about Если медведь убежит из клетки, мы не найдём его в лесу.
Why is it в лесу and not в лесе?
Лес is one of a special group of short, single-syllable masculine nouns that take a stressed -у (instead of the usual -е) in the Prepositional case when talking about location with в or на. Other common examples are в шкафу (in the closet) and на берегу (on the shore).
Why is убежит in the future tense when the English translation says "escapes" in the present tense?
In Russian, if a conditional если (if) clause refers to a future event, it must use the future tense. While English uses the present tense ("If the bear escapes"), Russian is more literal ("If the bear will escape"). Therefore, both verbs in this sentence, убежит and найдём, are in the future tense.
What does the prefix у- add to the verb in убежит?
The prefix у- often adds the meaning of moving away, departing, or leaving completely. It changes the base verb бежать (to run) into убежать (to run away / to escape). Because this makes the verb perfective, its present-tense conjugation acts as the future tense.
Why does клетка change to клетки here?
The preposition из (out of / from) always requires the Genitive case. Since клетка (cage) is a feminine noun ending in -а, its ending changes to -и in the Genitive case, giving us из клетки.
Does его mean "him" or "his" in this sentence?
Here it means "him". Медведь is a masculine animate noun, so it is replaced by он (he). Because the bear is the direct object of the verb найдём (we will find), the pronoun must be in the Accusative case. For он, the Accusative form is его.
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