Questions & Answers about Белая птица казалась символом.
Why does the word символ end in -ом here?
It is in the Instrumental case. The verb казаться (to seem) requires the noun or adjective that follows it to be in the Instrumental case to express what the subject seems to be. Since символ is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, it takes the standard -ом ending.
Why is the verb form казалась and not казался?
The verb must agree in gender with the subject, белая птица (white bird), which is feminine. The past tense feminine ending is -ла. Because казаться is a reflexive verb, we add the reflexive particle to the very end. After a vowel, that particle becomes -сь, giving us казалась.
Where is the word for "like" in the Russian sentence?
There isn't one! The combination of the verb казаться and the Instrumental case (символом) naturally translates to "seemed like" or "appeared to be." Adding a comparison word like как is unnecessary here.
If I replaced казалась with являлась, would the sentence still mean the same thing?
No, the meaning would change, even though the grammar works exactly the same way. Both verbs take the Instrumental case, so являлась символом is grammatically correct. However, являться is a formal verb meaning "to be," so the sentence would change from "seemed like a symbol" to a formal statement that it "was a symbol."
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