Breakdown of Хозяин не может надеть поводок на свою кошку, потому что она начинает царапать его.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
потому что
because
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
мочь
to be able to
начинать
to begin
хозяин
owner, host
свой
one's own
надеть
to put on
кошка
cat (female)
поводок
the leash
царапать
to scratch
Questions & Answers about Хозяин не может надеть поводок на свою кошку, потому что она начинает царапать его.
This lesson is about как ни. How would we say 'No matter how the owner tries, he cannot put a leash on his cat' using this structure?
You would use Как хозяин ни старается, он не может надеть поводок на свою кошку. Remember that как ни is followed by a verb and usually requires an imperfective verb (like старается) to emphasize the ongoing effort that still fails to yield the result.
Why does the sentence use надеть instead of одеть?
This is a classic stumbling block! You use надеть when putting an inanimate item (like a leash, поводок) onto someone or something. You use одеть when dressing a person or animal directly. A helpful Russian mnemonic is: Надеть одежду, одеть Надежду (Put on clothes, dress Nadezhda).
Could we say на его кошку instead of на свою кошку?
Grammatically, using его here would strongly imply 'on his (some other guy's) cat.' Because the cat belongs to the subject of the clause (хозяин), you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun свой.
Why is царапать (to scratch) in the imperfective aspect?
Phase verbs that indicate the start, continuation, or end of an action (like начинать, продолжать, заканчивать) must always be followed by an imperfective infinitive. Since the cat 'begins' to scratch, the rule dictates the imperfective царапать.
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