Breakdown of Врач рассказал нам о восьмистах калориях в этом десерте.
мы
we
врач
doctor
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
о
about (о, об, обо)
рассказать
to tell (perfective)
десерт
dessert
восемьсот
eight hundred
калория
calorie
Questions & Answers about Врач рассказал нам о восьмистах калориях в этом десерте.
How do we get the form восьмистах from восемьсот (eight hundred)?
When declining hundreds (200–900), both halves of the word change. The preposition о (about) requires the Prepositional case. The first half, восемь, becomes восьми (its Prepositional form). The second half, сот, becomes стах (the Prepositional plural form of сто). Put them together, and you get восьмистах.
Why is калориях in the Prepositional case? Doesn't the number 800 require the Genitive plural?
If the number 800 were the subject or direct object, you would indeed use the Genitive plural (восемьсот калорий). However, when a number is forced into an oblique case (like the Prepositional here, because of the preposition о), the noun stops being in the Genitive and simply matches the case of the number. So, both the number and the noun take the Prepositional plural: о восьмистах калориях.
Why is there an и in the middle of восьмистах instead of a soft sign (ь)?
The base number восемь ends in a soft sign, which means it declines exactly like feminine nouns ending in a soft sign (like тетрадь or ночь). In the Prepositional case, that ending changes to an и. Therefore, the first half of the word becomes восьми-.
Could I use the preposition про instead of о to mean "about"?
Yes! Рассказать о (+ Prepositional) is the standard way to say "to tell about." You could also use рассказать про (+ Accusative), which is very common in everyday speech. If you used про, the phrase would use the Accusative case, meaning the number and noun would look exactly like their Nominative dictionary forms: про восемьсот калорий.
Learn Врач рассказал нам о восьмистах калориях в этом десерте and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free