Breakdown of Гости прилетают сегодня вечером.
вечером
in the evening
гость
guest
сегодня
today
прилетать
to arrive (by air)
Questions & Answers about Гости прилетают сегодня вечером.
The current lesson focuses on the departure prefix от-. How does прилетают fit in?
This sentence provides a contrast to the lesson's main topic. While the prefix от- means departure or moving away from a point, the prefix при- means arrival. Прилетают means they are arriving by air.
Why use the imperfective verb прилетать here instead of the perfective прилететь?
Прилетают is in the present tense, which can only be formed with imperfective verbs. Just like in English, Russian often uses the present tense of imperfective verbs to talk about confirmed, scheduled future plans. If we used the perfective прилетят, it would strictly mean the future tense.
How do you know that прилетать is imperfective just by looking at it?
For prefixed verbs of motion, you add the prefix to the multidirectional base verb to create the imperfective form. Here, при- plus летать (multidirectional) equals прилетать (imperfective). If you added the prefix to the unidirectional base verb, you would get the perfective form: при- plus лететь equals прилететь.
Why do we say сегодня вечером instead of translating 'this evening' literally as этим вечером?
In Russian, phrases like 'this morning' or 'tonight' are usually expressed by combining сегодня (today) with the time of day in the instrumental case (утром, днём, вечером, ночью). Translating it literally as этим вечером is understood but sounds less natural for everyday plans.
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