Breakdown of Как только он предал нас, я потерял доверие к этим друзьям.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
я
I
мы
we
друг
friend
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
потерять
to lose (perfective)
к
towards, to
доверие
trust
как только
as soon as
предать
to betray (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Как только он предал нас, я потерял доверие к этим друзьям.
Why is the word for "friends" друзьям instead of a regular form like другам?
The noun друг has an irregular plural: друзья. When declining irregular plurals that end in -ья, you keep that soft stem for the oblique cases. Since the preposition к requires the dative case, we use the dative plural ending -ям to get друзьям.
Why do we use к (к этим друзьям) to say "trust in these friends"?
While English speakers put trust "in" someone, Russian treats trust (доверие) as an attitude directed towards someone. The preposition к translates to "to" or "towards" and always requires the dative case.
Is как только a set phrase in this sentence?
Yes, как только is the standard Russian phrase for "as soon as." Notice that both verbs here, предал and потерял, are in the perfective aspect. Using the perfective past tense with как только shows that one completed action immediately triggered the next.
What is the root verb of предал?
The infinitive is предать (to betray). It is formed by adding the prefix пре- to the verb дать (to give), giving it the literal flavor of "giving someone up." Because it is built on дать, it shares its irregular past tense and conjugation forms.
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