Questions & Answers about Полиция остановила машину.
Why does the verb остановила have a feminine singular ending instead of a plural one?
Could I use the reflexive verb остановилась here instead?
No. You use the non-reflexive остановить when the subject stops something else, which is the car (машину) in this sentence. You would use the reflexive остановиться only if the subject stops itself (for example, if the police officers themselves came to a halt).
Why is the perfective verb остановила used here rather than the imperfective останавливала?
The perfective aspect is used because this is a single, successfully completed action in the past. You would use the imperfective останавливала if the police were in the middle of trying to stop the car, or if they stopped cars repeatedly as a habit.
Could the word order be changed to Машину остановила полиция?
Yes, because Russian uses case endings (like the accusative -у on машину) to show who is doing what to whom, you can change the word order safely. Putting Машину first and полиция last shifts the emphasis to the police. It would mean 'It was the police who stopped the car.'
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