Questions & Answers about Я ждал тебя целый час.
Why is there no Russian word for 'for' in the phrase 'for a whole hour'?
When expressing how long an action lasts, Russian simply uses the accusative case without a preposition. The phrase целый час is in the accusative, which looks identical to the nominative here because час is a masculine inanimate noun.
Is the pronoun тебя in the accusative or genitive case here?
It is in the accusative case. The verb ждать (to wait) is special: you wait for specific, living people (like тебя) using the accusative case, but you wait for abstract, inanimate, or indefinite things (like a bus or a miracle) using the genitive case.
Why is the imperfective verb ждал used here?
We use the imperfective aspect because the sentence focuses on the ongoing process and the duration of the action. When a sentence specifies how long a continuous action lasted, such as целый час, an imperfective verb is always required.
Why use целый instead of весь for 'whole'?
While both can translate to 'whole' or 'entire', целый emphasizes that the hour was one long, unbroken, and significant chunk of time. It is the natural choice when you want to emphasize just how long you were stuck waiting.