Breakdown of Директора уже уехали, а мы остались здесь.
здесь
here
а
and (contrastive)
мы
we
директор
director
Questions & Answers about Директора уже уехали, а мы остались здесь.
Why does the masculine noun директор end in -а for its plural here?
This is the focus of our current lesson! Some masculine nouns take a stressed -а (or -я) ending in the nominative plural instead of the standard -ы or -и. The plural of директор is директора (directors). Other common examples are дома (houses) and города (cities). You just have to memorize these exceptions.
Why do we use уехали instead of ушли for "left"?
Уехали is from уехать, which means "to leave by vehicle" (driving, riding). Ушли (from уйти) means "to leave on foot". In Russian, verbs of motion require you to specify the method of transport. Here, it implies the directors left by car or another vehicle.
The translation says "and we remained", so why use а instead of и?
The conjunction а is used to show contrast. It often translates to "whereas" or "but", though sometimes it translates simply as "and" in English. Because there is a direct contrast between what the directors did (left) and what we did (stayed), а is the natural choice here.
What is the infinitive of остались and why does it end in -сь?