Breakdown of Вчера мы засиделись в кафе с обоими друзьями.
мы
we
друг
friend
кафе
cafe
в
in / to (direction)
вчера
yesterday
с
with (also со)
оба
both (m/n)
засидеться
to sit up late
Questions & Answers about Вчера мы засиделись в кафе с обоими друзьями.
How does the combination of за- and -ся change the verb сидеть in this sentence?
In Russian, wrapping a verb in the prefix за- and postfix -ся often shows that the subject got completely absorbed in the action, doing it to excess or losing track of time. While сидеть just means to sit, засидеться implies sitting around for way too long. Here, засиделись translates as stayed up late or stayed too long.
Why is the word for both spelled обоими here?
It is in the instrumental case because it follows the preposition с (with). The dictionary form is оба (both). When declining masculine and neuter nouns in the instrumental case, оба becomes обоими.
Wait, doesn't both also have a feminine form? Why isn't it used here?
Yes, the feminine form is обе. Because друг (friend) is masculine, we must use the masculine form оба and its declensions. If they were female friends (подруги), you would use the feminine instrumental form and say с обеими подругами.
Why does the plural of friend look a bit strange in с друзьями?
The noun друг has an irregular plural. Instead of a standard stem, it changes to друзь- for all plural cases. Since the preposition с requires the instrumental case here, we add the instrumental plural ending -ями to that irregular stem, making it друзьями.
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