Breakdown of Дети могут заиграться во дворе и забыть о времени.
и
and
в
in / to (direction)
о
about (о, об, обо)
время
time
мочь
to be able to
дети
children
двор
courtyard, yard
забыть
to forget (perfective)
заиграться
to get carried away playing
Questions & Answers about Дети могут заиграться во дворе и забыть о времени.
How do the prefix and postfix in заиграться change the meaning of the base verb?
The prefix за- combined with the postfix -ся forms a pattern meaning to do something to excess or become completely absorbed in an action. Added to играть (to play), it creates заиграться, meaning to play for too long or get carried away playing.
Since playing is a continuous action, why is заиграться in the perfective aspect here?
While playing itself is an ongoing process, this specific verb focuses on the result of crossing a boundary into excess. The sentence describes a potential completed outcome (they might cross that line and forget the time), so the perfective infinitives заиграться and забыть are used after могут.
Why is the preposition во used before дворе instead of the usual в?
The preposition в changes to во before words starting with certain tricky consonant clusters, especially those beginning with в, ф, or combinations like the дв- in дворе. This is simply to make the phrase easier to pronounce.
Why does the word время (time) look like времени at the end of the sentence?
Время is one of the special neuter nouns ending in -мя. When declined into the prepositional case to follow о (about), these nouns add the suffix -ен- before the ending -и, resulting in о времени.
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