Breakdown of Преподаватель хотел, чтобы мы говорили об астрономии.
мы
we
говорить
to speak, to talk
хотеть
to want
о
about (о, об, обо)
преподаватель
teacher (university)
чтобы
in order to
астрономия
astronomy
Questions & Answers about Преподаватель хотел, чтобы мы говорили об астрономии.
Why does астрономии end in -ии here instead of the usual Prepositional ending -е?
The dictionary form of the word is астрономия. Feminine nouns ending in -ия (as well as neuter nouns in -ие and masculine nouns in -ий) are special cases. Instead of the standard -е, they take the ending -ии in the Prepositional case.
Why do we use об instead of о for the preposition about?
The preposition о changes to об when the following word begins with a vowel (like the а in астрономии). This is done to make pronunciation smoother, similar to how English uses the word an instead of a before vowels.
Why is the verb говорили in the past tense if the English translation is wanted us to talk?
To express wanting someone else to do something in Russian, you use the verb хотеть (to want) plus чтобы (so that) followed by the past tense of the action verb. The conjunction чтобы strictly requires the past tense form in this structure, even though the action itself is not in the past.
What is the difference between преподаватель and учитель?
Both words mean teacher, but they imply different settings. An учитель is typically a teacher in a primary or secondary school. A преподаватель is an instructor or lecturer at a university, college, or specialized adult course.
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