Breakdown of Он всегда отдаёт книги вовремя.
книга
book
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
всегда
always
отдавать
to give back (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Он всегда отдаёт книги вовремя.
Why does отдаёт look so different from its infinitive отдавать? Where did the -ва- go?
Verbs ending in -давать, -знавать, and -ставать drop the -ва- suffix when conjugated in the present tense. So, отдавать (to give back or return) loses the -ва- and takes regular endings with -ё-: я отдаю, ты отдаёшь, он отдаёт, and so on.
Why do we use the imperfective verb отдаёт here instead of its perfective form?
The presence of the word всегда (always) tells us this is a repeated, habitual action. Habitual actions require the imperfective aspect, which is why we use отдавать (imperfective) rather than its perfective pair отдать.
What case is книги in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case, because the books are the direct object receiving the action of being returned. For inanimate nouns like книга, the accusative plural looks exactly the same as the nominative plural (книги).
Is вовремя (on time) related to the word время (time)? How is it stressed?
Yes, it literally comes from 'in time'. When written as one word (вовремя), it means 'on time' and the stress falls on the first syllable: вОвремя. Be careful not to confuse it with the two-word phrase во время (during), which has the stress on the е: во врЕмя.
Learn Он всегда отдаёт книги вовремя and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free