Breakdown of Они поддались провокации и начали спор.
и
and
они
they
начать
to begin (perfective)
спор
argument (dispute, quarrel)
провокация
provocation
поддаться
to succumb, to give in
Questions & Answers about Они поддались провокации и начали спор.
Why is провокации in the dative case here?
The verb поддаться (to succumb, give in, or yield) requires the dative case for the thing or person you are yielding to. This is a classic example of the dative of submission. The prefix под- (under) combined with даться (to let oneself be given) creates the imagery of submitting to something.
Since провокации ends in -ии, could it be genitive or prepositional?
Out of context, yes. For feminine nouns ending in -ия like провокация, the genitive, dative, and prepositional singular forms all end in -ии. However, because it acts as the object of the verb поддались, we know grammatically it must be the dative case.
What is the imperfective pair for поддаться?
The imperfective verb is поддаваться. It governs the dative case in the exact same way, but you would use it for ongoing or repeated yielding, such as if you wanted to say 'they always give in' (они всегда поддаются).
Is спор in the nominative case here?
It looks like it, but it is actually in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the action (they started a dispute). Since спор is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form is identical to its dictionary (nominative) form.
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