Breakdown of О сексе они говорили только друг с другом.
они
they
говорить
to speak, to talk
только
only
друг друга
each other
секс
sex
Questions & Answers about О сексе они говорили только друг с другом.
Why is the preposition с in the middle of друг с другом instead of at the beginning?
When using a preposition with the phrase друг друга (each other), the preposition always goes right in the middle, between the two words. It is incorrect to put the preposition at the very beginning. The first друг always stays exactly as it is, and the second one takes the preposition and the required case ending. Here, it takes the instrumental case (с другом) because it means 'with each other'.
Why does the sentence start with О сексе instead of putting it after the verb?
Russian word order is flexible and often puts the main topic of the sentence at the very beginning. By starting with О сексе, the speaker immediately establishes the topic: 'As for sex, they only talked about it with each other.' While you could say Они говорили о сексе..., putting the topic first is a very natural way to emphasize it in Russian.
Why use the imperfective verb говорили instead of the perfective поговорили?
The imperfective говорили shows that this was an ongoing habit or a general rule in the past. They regularly talked about it, or this was their established boundary. If you used the perfective поговорили, it would refer to one single, completed conversation (like 'they had a talk').
Why does the word секс end in -е here?
The preposition о (meaning 'about' a topic) requires the prepositional case. Since секс is a regular masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, you form the prepositional case by adding -е, making it о сексе.
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