Breakdown of Она не хочет контролировать гостей в своём пространстве.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
хотеть
to want
в
in / to (direction)
гость
guest
свой
one's own
пространство
space
контролировать
to control
Questions & Answers about Она не хочет контролировать гостей в своём пространстве.
Why use в своём instead of в её?
In Russian, when a possessive word (like 'her', 'his', or 'their') refers back to the subject of the sentence, you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun свой. Since 'she' (Она) is the subject and it is 'her' own space, свой is required instead of её.
Why does свой change to своём in this sentence?
It must match the case and gender of the noun it describes. The noun пространство (space) is neuter, and it is in the Prepositional case here because of the preposition в indicating location. In the Prepositional case, the neuter form of свой is своём.
Why does the direct object 'guests' take the form гостей?
The word гость (guest) is an animate noun. When plural animate nouns are the direct object of a verb (Accusative case), they take the same endings as they do in the Genitive plural. That is why the nominative plural гости becomes гостей.
Why is the verb контролировать imperfective here?
She wants to avoid the general behavior or ongoing process of controlling her guests, rather than a single, one-time action. General actions or states, especially when expressing a lack of desire to do them after не хотеть (not to want), naturally take the imperfective aspect.
Learn Она не хочет контролировать гостей в своём пространстве 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