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
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?