Breakdown of Мы простояли в зоне ожидания почти сутки.
мы
we
в
in / to (direction)
почти
almost
сутки
twenty-four hours, a full day
Questions & Answers about Мы простояли в зоне ожидания почти сутки.
Why use the perfective verb простояли when standing for 24 hours is a long, continuous action?
The prefix про- turns the continuous action of standing (стоять) into a completed "block" of time. It means "to spend [duration] standing." Because that specific block of standing is now over and complete, the verb becomes perfective.
Is сутки in the nominative case here?
No, it is in the accusative case, which is used here to show the exact duration of the action (the "accusative of time"). Because сутки is inanimate, its accusative form looks identical to its nominative form.
Сутки translates to "twenty-four hours", but what kind of word is it grammatically?
Сутки is a noun that means a full 24-hour cycle (a day and a night). Grammatically, it only exists in the plural. Even if you mean just one 24-hour period, it always takes plural adjectives and verb endings.
Why does the Russian sentence say в зоне ожидания instead of using an adjective for "waiting"?
Russian frequently uses a noun in the genitive case where English would use a descriptive adjective or a compound noun. Ожидания is the genitive form of ожидание (waiting/expectation). Literally, this is the "zone of waiting."