Breakdown of Она отдала письмо начальнику.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
письмо
letter
начальник
boss
отдать
to give back (perfective) / to hand over, present
Questions & Answers about Она отдала письмо начальнику.
The lesson is about verbs like отдавать dropping the -ва- suffix. Why doesn't отдала have that suffix here?
Отдала is the past tense of the perfective verb отдать (to hand over). The lesson's rule about dropping -ва- applies to the imperfective verb отдавать in the present tense (like отдаю, отдаёт). Because she completed the action of giving the letter, we use the perfective past tense, which is built from отдать and never had the -ва- suffix to begin with.
What is the difference between дать and отдать?
The prefix от- often adds the meaning of moving something away from yourself or returning it. While дать simply means to give, отдать emphasizes handing something over, giving it up, or giving it back. Here, she is handing the letter over to her boss.
Why does начальник end in -у in this sentence?
It is in the dative case (начальнику), which is used for the indirect object of a sentence, meaning the recipient of an action. Since she gave the letter to the boss, the noun takes the standard dative ending -у for a masculine noun ending in a consonant.
Is письмо in the nominative case here since it hasn't changed its ending?
It looks exactly like the dictionary form (nominative), but it is actually in the accusative case because it is the direct object, meaning the thing being given. For neuter nouns like письмо, the accusative form is always identical to the nominative.
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