Breakdown of Она отдыхает в самом лучшем санатории.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
отдыхать
to rest
в
in / to (direction)
лучший
best
самый
most
санаторий
sanatorium
Questions & Answers about Она отдыхает в самом лучшем санатории.
Why does the word for sanatorium end in -ии (санатории) instead of the usual prepositional ending -е?
The dictionary form of the word is санаторий, which is a masculine noun ending in -ий. Nouns that end in -ия, -ие, or -ий are special: they take -ии in the prepositional case rather than the standard -е.
Why are there two words for "best" (самом лучшем)?
Лучший can mean either "better" or "best." To make it absolutely clear that it means "the best" (the superlative form), Russian adds самый (the most). Both words must match the noun in case, gender, and number.
Why do the endings of самом and лучшем look different if they are in the same case?
Both are in the masculine prepositional case to match санаторий. Самый takes the standard hard masculine ending -ом to become самом. However, лучший takes the soft ending -ем to become лучшем because of the spelling rule that says you cannot write an unstressed о after the letter ч.
Does отдыхает just mean she is taking a quick break?
It goes a bit deeper here! While отдыхать does mean "to rest," it is also the standard verb for going on vacation. Since a санаторий is a health resort, this sentence implies she is spending her vacation or holiday there to relax and recover.
Learn Она отдыхает в самом лучшем санатории 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