Breakdown of Я хочу снять эту квартиру на неделю.
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
квартира
apartment
хотеть
to want
неделя
week
на
for (a period of time)
снять
to rent (a place)
Questions & Answers about Я хочу снять эту квартиру на неделю.
Why do we use на неделю instead of just saying неделю to mean 'for a week'?
When you talk about the intended duration or the result of an action (like how long you get to keep the apartment after you rent it), you must use на + Accusative case. If you used just the Accusative (неделю) without на, it would mean the actual process of renting (signing the papers, finding the place) took you a whole week to complete!
I have seen снять used to mean 'to take off' (like a coat). Is it a different word here?
It is the exact same word! In Russian, снять (perfective) and its imperfective pair снимать are the standard verbs used for renting property from someone else, like an apartment, house, or hotel room. You can think of it as 'taking' the property off the market for yourself.
Why use the perfective verb снять after хочу instead of the imperfective снимать?
You use the perfective снять because you are focused on the final result: successfully securing the rental for that specific week. If you used the imperfective снимать, it would imply a repeated or ongoing action, like 'I want to be renting (in general)'.
Why is it эту квартиру and not эта квартира?
The phrase 'this apartment' is the direct object of the verb снять (it is the thing being rented). Therefore, it must be in the Accusative case. The feminine nominative эта квартира changes its endings to -у to become эту квартиру.
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