Breakdown of Сегодня она ни с кем не погуляла.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
кто
who / whoever
сегодня
today
с
with (also со)
погулять
to walk for a while
ни
not (negative particle in "with no one", "about nothing")
Questions & Answers about Сегодня она ни с кем не погуляла.
How does the prefix по- change the meaning of the verb in погуляла?
The prefix по- makes the verb perfective and adds a delimitative meaning, showing that the action was meant to last for a short, limited amount of time. It changes гулять (to walk) into погулять (to take a short walk). Even in the negative, it emphasizes that she didn't even go out for a quick stroll with anyone.
Why is the word for nobody split into three words as ни с кем?
When a negative pronoun starting with ни- (like никто, meaning nobody) is used with a preposition, Russian grammar requires the preposition to jump right into the middle of the word. Since с means with, you cannot say с никем; it must break apart into ни с кем.
Why do we need the word не before the verb if ни с кем already makes the sentence negative?
Russian requires double negation. Whenever you use a negative pronoun or adverb (like nobody, nothing, or never), you must also negate the main verb. That is why не is placed directly before погуляла.
Why does this sentence use the form кем instead of кто?
Кем is the instrumental case form of the pronoun кто (who). The instrumental case is required here because it follows the preposition с when expressing who you are doing an action 'with'.
Learn Сегодня она ни с кем не погуляла 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