Breakdown of Я ни у кого не просил коньяку!
не
not
я
I
у
at, by
никто
nobody
просить
to ask for, to request
коньяк
cognac
Questions & Answers about Я ни у кого не просил коньяку!
Why does the word for cognac end in -у here (коньяку)? Shouldn't it be коньяка in the genitive, or коньяк in the accusative?
This is the partitive genitive (sometimes called the second genitive). For certain uncountable masculine nouns (like drinks, foods, or materials), an -у or -ю ending is used instead of the standard -а or -я when referring to a portion or "some" of that thing. Because the speaker is talking about asking for some cognac, коньяку is used. Note that while коньяка is also grammatically correct in modern Russian, коньяку sounds much more natural for a portion.
Why is the preposition у right in the middle of the phrase ни у кого? Can I say у никого instead?
No, you cannot say у никого. In Russian, when a negative pronoun like никто (nobody) is used with a preposition (like у), the preposition splits the pronoun right down the middle. The prefix ни- breaks off, the preposition goes in the center, and the rest of the pronoun follows: ни + у + кого. It literally structures as "not from whom."
Why do we use the preposition у with the person being asked?
The verb просить (to ask) requires the preposition у plus the genitive case for the person you are making the request to. Think of it as asking to take something from someone's possession or domain (у кого).
Why is the imperfective verb просил used here instead of the perfective попросил?
When strongly denying that an action ever happened at all, Russian generally prefers the imperfective aspect. Using не просил emphasizes a complete absence of the action ("I did not engage in the act of asking"), which perfectly fits the defensive, emphatic tone of this sentence.
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