Breakdown of Мы хотим обвинить его в этом преступлении.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
мы
we
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
хотеть
to want
преступление
crime
в
of (in accusations, confessions, oaths)
обвинить
to accuse (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Мы хотим обвинить его в этом преступлении.
Why do we use в with the prepositional case here instead of the genitive case to translate 'of'?
In English, we accuse someone 'of' a crime, but Russian uses в + Prepositional case (literally 'in' a crime). Verbs expressing conviction, accusation, or confession often govern the prepositional case with в rather than the genitive case, which learners usually associate with the word 'of'.
How do you structure the person and the crime with the verb обвинить?
You use the Accusative case for the person being accused (его) and в + Prepositional case for the thing they are accused of (в этом преступлении).
Why does преступлении end in -ии instead of the usual prepositional -е ending?
The noun преступление (crime) is a neuter noun ending in -ие. As a rule, nouns ending in -ие, -ия, or -ий take an -ии ending in the prepositional case instead of the standard -е.
Why use the perfective обвинить instead of the imperfective обвинять after хотим?
The perfective обвинить is used because the speakers intend to perform a single, specific, and complete action of bringing a formal accusation against him, rather than engaging in a continuous or repeated process of accusing.
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