Breakdown of Тяжело вытаскивать этот чемодан из-под дивана.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
диван
sofa, couch
чемодан
suitcase
тяжело
hard / heavily
Questions & Answers about Тяжело вытаскивать этот чемодан из-под дивана.
How exactly does the compound preposition из-под work?
It combines из (out of or from) and под (under) to mean 'from under'. Because it expresses motion away from a starting point, it requires the noun to be in the Genitive case, which is why we see дивана.
Why do we use the Genitive ending for диван if the basic preposition под usually takes the Instrumental or Accusative case?
While под on its own takes the Instrumental for location or Accusative for direction, adding из- changes the rules. Any compound preposition starting with из-, like из-за or из-под, acts like a preposition of origin and always takes the Genitive case.
Is этот чемодан in the Nominative case here?
No, it is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb вытаскивать (to pull out). For inanimate masculine nouns like чемодан, the Accusative form is identical to the Nominative form.
Why does the sentence use the imperfective verb вытаскивать instead of the perfective вытащить?
The imperfective is used because the sentence focuses on the continuous, struggling process of pulling the suitcase out. When highlighting that an action is difficult or takes a lot of effort, Russian often prefers the imperfective aspect.