Breakdown of Они привыкают к тому, что жильё — это собственность, а не ипотека.
это
this / it is
не
not
а
and (contrastive)
они
they
что
that (conjunction)
тот
that
к
towards, to
привыкать
to get used to
жильё
the housing
собственность
property (ownership)
ипотека
mortgage
Questions & Answers about Они привыкают к тому, что жильё — это собственность, а не ипотека.
The lesson is about the conjunction of juxtaposition в то время как. Could we use it here instead of а?
No. While both express contrast, а не is the standard way to say 'and not' or 'rather than' when contrasting two specific words (like property and mortgage). В то время как translates to 'while' or 'whereas' and is used to contrast two complete clauses, not just two nouns at the end of a sentence.
Why do we need к тому, что here instead of just что?
The verb привыкать (to get used to) requires the preposition к followed by the Dative case. Because you cannot attach the conjunction что directly to a preposition, Russian uses the pronoun то as a bridge. It takes the Dative case (тому) to satisfy the preposition, creating the fixed structure к тому, что (literally 'to that, that').
Why is there a dash and the word это between жильё and собственность?
When both the subject (жильё) and the predicate (собственность) are nouns in the Nominative case, Russian uses a dash to replace the missing present-tense 'is' or 'are'. The particle это is frequently added after the dash to make the connection between the two concepts sound more natural and emphatic.
How does жильё differ from words like дом or квартира?
Жильё is a broad, uncountable noun meaning 'housing', 'living space', or 'accommodation'. It refers to the general concept or category of having a place to live, whereas дом (house) and квартира (apartment) refer to specific physical units.
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