Breakdown of Они сняли квартиру на всё лето.
они
they
квартира
apartment
лето
summer
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
на
for (a period of time)
снять
to rent (a place)
Questions & Answers about Они сняли квартиру на всё лето.
Why do we need the preposition на here to say "for the whole summer"?
In Russian, when you want to express the intended duration of an action's result, you use на plus the Accusative case. Here, they completed the action of renting (сняли) with the intention of keeping the apartment for the specific duration of the summer.
Wait, doesn't the verb снять mean to take something off, like a hat or shoes?
Yes, but снять (perfective) and its imperfective partner снимать are highly versatile verbs. When talking about property like a квартира (apartment) or дом (house), it is the standard way to say "to rent" as a tenant.
What case is всё лето in? It looks just like the dictionary form.
It is in the Accusative case, which is required by the preposition на for this type of time expression. Because лето is a neuter noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative form, and the same rule applies to the modifier всё (the neuter form of весь, meaning all or whole).
Could we use the imperfective verb снимали in this sentence?
Using the imperfective would change the grammar and the meaning. If you said Они снимали квартиру всё лето (notice we drop the на), it focuses on the ongoing process, meaning "They were renting the apartment all summer." Using the perfective сняли with на всё лето focuses on the completed deal: "They rented the apartment for the whole summer."
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