Breakdown of Я не знаю, почему они решили отомстить директору.
не
not
я
I
они
they
знать
to know
почему
why
директор
director
решить
to decide (perfective)
отомстить
to take revenge (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Я не знаю, почему они решили отомстить директору.
Why is there no preposition for "on" before директору?
The verb отомстить (to take revenge) directly governs the Dative case without a preposition. While in English you take revenge "on" someone, in Russian you direct the action "to" them. That is why директор becomes the Dative директору.
Why do we use the perfective verb отомстить instead of the imperfective мстить?
Using the perfective отомстить shows they decided to carry out a specific, completed act of revenge. If they had decided to engage in an ongoing, continuous campaign of revenge, we would use the imperfective мстить.
Why is there a comma before почему?
In Russian, subordinate clauses must always be separated from the main clause by a comma. English does not use a comma before "why" in a sentence like this, but Russian grammar strictly requires it to separate the two clauses Я не знаю and почему они решили....
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