Breakdown of Она переписала страницу, потому что там была опечатка.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
там
there
потому что
because
быть
to be
страница
page
переписать
to rewrite
опечатка
typo
Questions & Answers about Она переписала страницу, потому что там была опечатка.
How does the prefix пере- change the meaning of the verb in переписала?
In this lesson's context, the prefix пере- adds the meaning of "re-doing" an action, usually to fix or improve it. By attaching it to the root of писать (to write), we get переписать, which means "to rewrite."
Is переписала perfective or imperfective?
It is perfective. Adding a prefix like пере- or до- to a base imperfective verb (like писать) almost always creates a new perfective verb. It is used here because she successfully completed the action of rewriting the page. If you needed the imperfective equivalent (e.g., "she was rewriting"), you would use переписывала.
Why is the verb была in the feminine form instead of the neutral было?
In Russian, the past tense of быть (to be) must match the gender of the subject it refers to. In the second clause (там была опечатка), the subject is опечатка (a typo). Because опечатка is a feminine noun, the verb becomes the feminine была.
Where does the word опечатка come from?
It comes from the verb печатать (to type or to print). The prefix о- is sometimes used in Russian to indicate a mistake or a "miss" (similar to ошибка for a general mistake). So, an опечатка is literally a typing or printing error.
Learn Она переписала страницу, потому что там была опечатка 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