Breakdown of Как мы ни наказываем кота, он продолжает грызть ботинки.
кот
cat
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
мы
we
как
how
Questions & Answers about Как мы ни наказываем кота, он продолжает грызть ботинки.
Why is there a ни here instead of не? Doesn't that make it negative?
In Russian, the structure как ни plus a verb means 'no matter how'. The ни here does not negate the action. Instead, it acts as an intensifier to express a concession. It means we actually do punish the cat, but despite our efforts, the result doesn't change.
Could we use the perfective verb накажем instead of the imperfective наказываем in this structure?
Because the second half of the sentence uses продолжает (continues), we are talking about a repeated or ongoing situation. The imperfective наказываем perfectly matches this idea: we punish him again and again. While perfective is possible in как ни constructions for single completed actions, the imperfective is needed here for the repeated context.
Why is грызть (to chew) imperfective? Could a perfective verb work here?
No, you cannot use a perfective verb here. In Russian, verbs that describe starting, continuing, or finishing an action, such as продолжать, must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. This is because they inherently focus on the ongoing process of the action.
Why does the direct object кота end in -а, while the other direct object ботинки looks just like the nominative?