Breakdown of Мы всегда благодарим бабушку за её заботу.
мы
we
всегда
always
бабушка
grandmother
за
for (in exchange for)
Questions & Answers about Мы всегда благодарим бабушку за её заботу.
Why is it бабушку (Accusative) when I learned to say спасибо бабушке (Dative)?
The verb благодарить (to thank) takes a direct object in the Accusative case, so we ask "thank whom?" and get бабушку. On the other hand, the common word спасибо takes the Dative case because it evolved from a phrase meaning "God save [you]," so it points to the person receiving the thanks.
How does the preposition за work in this sentence?
We use за followed by the Accusative case to express what we are thankful for. Here, the noun забота (care) changes to the Accusative заботу. This за + Accusative pattern is the standard way to express gratitude or exchange in Russian, whether you use благодарить or спасибо.
If заботу is in the Accusative case, why didn't the pronoun её (her) change to match it?
Third-person possessive pronouns—его (his/its), её (her), and их (their)—are invariable. This means they never change their endings. Unlike a pronoun like моя (my), which would have to change to мою to match an Accusative feminine noun, её stays exactly the same regardless of the noun's case.
What is the infinitive of благодарим?