Breakdown of Они сделали это без согласия своего отца.
это
this / it is
они
they
сделать
to do (perfective) / to make (perfective)
без
without
свой
one's own
отец
father
согласие
consent
Questions & Answers about Они сделали это без согласия своего отца.
Why does the sentence use своего instead of их for 'their'?
In Russian, when the possessor is the subject of the sentence (here, они or 'they'), you generally must use the reflexive possessive pronoun свой (meaning 'one's own'). If you used их here, it would imply they did it without someone else's father's consent.
What case is своего in here, and how is it pronounced?
It is in the Genitive case. Just like normal adjectives, свой must match the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies. Here, it modifies отца, which is masculine Genitive singular. Remember that the Genitive -его ending is pronounced like '-yevo', making the word sound like 'svoyevo'.
Why are both согласия and отца in the Genitive case here?
They are in the Genitive for two completely different reasons! The preposition без (without) always requires the noun immediately following it to be in the Genitive, which gives us согласия. Then, to say 'consent of the father', Russian uses the Genitive case again to show possession, giving us отца.
Why does отец become отца in the Genitive, rather than 'отеца'?
The word отец has what is called a 'fleeting vowel', meaning the е drops out when case endings are added. This is a very common pattern for Russian masculine nouns ending in -ец or -ок. When adding the Genitive ending -а, the е disappears, leaving отца.
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