Breakdown of Кто-то явно приходил сюда и трогал вещи.
и
and
вещь
thing
трогать
to touch
кто-то
someone
приходить
to arrive (on foot, impf)
сюда
here, to here
явно
clearly (obviously)
Questions & Answers about Кто-то явно приходил сюда и трогал вещи.
Why does this sentence use the imperfective приходил instead of the perfective пришёл?
This is a classic example of the annulled result. If you used the perfective пришёл, it would imply the person came and is still standing right here. Using the imperfective приходил shows that they came to this location but have since left.
Why is трогал also imperfective? Could we use the perfective потрогал?
When describing a sequence of actions that happened during a round trip (an annulled result), Russian typically keeps all the verbs in that sequence imperfective. Using потрогал would sound strange because it mixes a completed result with a trip that has been reversed by the person leaving.
Why do we use сюда instead of здесь for the word here?
Even though the English translation says here, the action involves motion towards a destination. Сюда implies movement to here, which is required with verbs of motion like приходил. You use здесь only for static locations where no travel is taking place.
If we don't know who the person is, why are the verbs приходил and трогал in the masculine form?
The indefinite pronoun кто-то grammatically acts as a masculine singular noun. Whenever you use it as the subject, the past tense verbs must take the masculine singular endings, even if the unknown person might have been female.
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