Breakdown of Эта актриса долго была в депрессии.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
быть
to be
долго
for a long time
актриса
actress
депрессия
depression
Questions & Answers about Эта актриса долго была в депрессии.
Why do we use the prepositional case for в депрессии rather than the accusative?
The preposition в takes the prepositional case to indicate a static location or state, including emotional states. It tells us where she was metaphorically. If she were falling into a depression (a change of state or metaphorical motion), you would use the accusative case instead.
Why does депрессии end in -ии instead of the usual -е for the prepositional case?
The dictionary form is депрессия. Feminine nouns ending in -ия always take -ии in the prepositional case, unlike standard feminine nouns ending in -а or -я which take -е.
Could I translate 'for a long time' as долгое время instead of долго?
You can, and долгое время is grammatically correct, but the simple adverb долго is much more common and natural in everyday Russian for expressing that a continuous state lasted a long time.
Since her depression is over, could we use a perfective verb here instead of the imperfective была?
No, the verb быть (to be) is almost exclusively imperfective when describing past states, no matter if they ended. To focus on the completion or the result using perfective aspect, Russian uses entirely different action verbs, such as впасть в депрессию (to fall into depression) or выйти из депрессии (to come out of depression).
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