Breakdown of Если мы голосуем поздно, мы ночуем в городе.
мы
we
город
city
в
in / to (direction)
поздно
late
если
if
ночевать
to spend the night
голосовать
to vote
Questions & Answers about Если мы голосуем поздно, мы ночуем в городе.
Why is the verb for we vote голосуем instead of голосоваем?
The infinitive is голосовать. Verbs ending in -овать drop the -ова- and replace it with -у- in the present tense. Then you just add the standard endings. So, голос- + -у- + -ем (the ending for мы) gives us голосуем.
The verb ночуем (we stay overnight) comes from ночевать. Shouldn't verbs ending in -евать change to -ю- in the present tense?
Usually, yes (like танцевать becoming танцую). However, ночевать has the hushing consonant ч right before the suffix. Because of a strict Russian spelling rule, you cannot write the vowel ю after ч. Therefore, the -ева- changes to -у- instead, making it ночуем.
Could this sentence refer to a specific future event, like If we vote late tomorrow?
Yes. In Russian, the present tense is frequently used to talk about scheduled or certain future events. If the context is clear, Если мы голосуем поздно can mean If we are voting late tomorrow. If you wanted to emphasize a hypothetical future, you could use the perfective future: Если мы проголосуем поздно, мы заночуем в городе.
Why does в городе end in -е?
This is the Prepositional case. The verb ночевать (to spend the night) describes a static location where an action happens, not motion towards a destination. Therefore, we answer the question Where? by using в + Prepositional (в городе) rather than the Accusative case.
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