Breakdown of В деревне работают граблями и вилами.
и
and
работать
to work
в
in / to (direction)
деревня
village
Questions & Answers about В деревне работают граблями и вилами.
The translation says "a rake and a pitchfork," but граблями and вилами look plural. Are they?
Yes! In Russian, words for tools with multiple prongs or parts are often "plural-only" nouns. Just like "scissors" or "pants" in English, грабли (a rake) and вилы (a pitchfork) only exist in the plural form, even when you are talking about just a single rake or pitchfork.
Why do грабли and вилы end in -ями and -ами here?
They are in the instrumental case because they are the instruments or tools being used to perform the action. To say you do something "with a tool," Russian uses the instrumental case without any prepositions. Since these nouns are plural-only, they take the plural instrumental endings.
Why does one tool take -ями (граблями) and the other take -ами (вилами)?
It depends on whether the word's stem is soft or hard. The dictionary form of "rake" is грабли, ending in -и because the л before it is soft. Therefore, it takes the soft plural ending -ями. "Pitchfork" is вилы, which has a hard л and ends in a hard -ы, so it takes the hard plural ending -ами.
There is no word for "they" before работают. Why is it missing?