Breakdown of Из-за этой проблемы они не хотят оставаться близкими друзьями.
не
not
они
they
друг
friend
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
хотеть
to want
проблема
problem
близкий
close, near
из-за
because of; from behind
оставаться
to stay / to remain (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Из-за этой проблемы они не хотят оставаться близкими друзьями.
Why is the word for "friends" друзьями here instead of a regular ending?
The noun друг has an irregular plural, друзья. As you are learning in this lesson, plurals ending in -ья form their other cases based on that soft stem. To make it Instrumental plural, you add -ми to the -ья stem, resulting in друзьями.
Why do we need the Instrumental case (близкими друзьями) in the first place?
The verb оставаться (to remain) requires the noun and adjective that follow it to be in the Instrumental case. This is a common rule for verbs that describe a state of being, becoming, or remaining, such as быть (to be) and стать (to become).
Why does эта проблема change to этой проблемы at the beginning of the sentence?
The preposition из-за (which means "because of" here) always requires the Genitive case. Therefore, the feminine noun проблема and its matching word эта (this) must change to their Genitive forms: этой проблемы.
Why use the imperfective verb оставаться instead of the perfective остаться?
Being friends is a continuous, ongoing state rather than a single completed action. When talking about a permanent or ongoing condition that someone wants (or in this case, does not want) to maintain, Russian prefers the imperfective aspect.
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