Можно взять её флешку, чтобы распечатать черновик?
May I take her flash drive to print out the draft?
Breakdown of Можно взять её флешку, чтобы распечатать черновик?
взять
to take / to adopt
можно
one may, it is allowed
чтобы
in order to
её
her (possessive)
флешка
the flash drive
распечатать
to print out
черновик
the draft
Questions & Answers about Можно взять её флешку, чтобы распечатать черновик?
Since флешку is in the accusative case, why doesn't её change to match its case?
Unlike possessive pronouns like мой (my) or наш (our), the third-person possessive pronouns его (his), её (her), and их (their) never change their form. They are "indeclinable." Even though the noun they describe changes case, её stays exactly the same.
Why use the perfective verb взять here instead of the imperfective брать?
When you ask for permission to do a single, specific action with можно (may I / is it possible), you typically use the perfective aspect. Because you want to take the flash drive just this one time to achieve a specific result, взять is the correct choice.
Why is распечатать in the infinitive after чтобы?
The conjunction чтобы here means "in order to." When the person performing the action is the same in both halves of the sentence (here, the implied "I" who is both taking and printing), чтобы is always followed directly by an infinitive verb.
Is the word черновик (draft) in the nominative case in this sentence?
It looks like it, but it is actually in the accusative case because it is the direct object being printed. For masculine inanimate nouns like черновик, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form.
Is флешка a borrowed word?
Yes! It is a casual, extremely common borrowing from the English "flash drive." It acts as a standard feminine noun ending in -а, which is why it changes to флешку in the accusative case here.
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