Questions & Answers about Мы здорово отдохнули летом.
Why does здорово mean 'great' here? Doesn't it mean 'healthy'?
It depends on where you put the spoken stress! When stressed on the first syllable (здОрово), it is a very common colloquial adverb meaning 'great', 'cool', or 'awesome'. If you stress the second syllable (здорОво), it means 'healthy'.
Why is летом in the instrumental case? Shouldn't there be a preposition?
In Russian, seasons and times of day often use the instrumental case without any preposition to answer the question 'when?'. So the nominative word лето (summer) simply becomes летом (in the summer). You do the exact same thing with зимой (in winter), весной (in spring), and утром (in the morning).
Why did we use the perfective verb отдохнули instead of the imperfective отдыхали?
The perfective отдохнули focuses on the successful result: you successfully got the rest you needed and the action is complete. The imperfective отдыхали would just describe the ongoing process of taking a break or being on vacation, without emphasizing the 'we feel fully rested' result.
How could I use the particle ведь from this lesson in this sentence to cheer up my friend?
Where would I put the particle же if I wanted to contradict someone who said our summer was terrible?
You would place it right after the word you are emphasizing, usually the pronoun here: Мы же здорово отдохнули летом! This adds a strong tone of contradiction or emphasis, meaning 'But we had a GREAT rest in the summer!' or 'What do you mean? We had a great rest!'.
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