Breakdown of Пишут, что она должна родить через неделю.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
писать
to write
неделя
week
что
that (conjunction)
должен
must, have to (должен, должна, должны)
через
in (after a period of time)
родить
to give birth
Questions & Answers about Пишут, что она должна родить через неделю.
Why is there no pronoun before Пишут? Shouldn't it be Они пишут?
This is an indefinite-personal clause. By dropping the pronoun они and just using the 3rd-person plural verb пишут, the sentence focuses on the information itself rather than who specifically is doing the writing. It translates best to "They write..." (as a general "they") or "It is written...".
Должна usually means "must" or "has to." Why does it translate to "is supposed to" here?
In Russian, должен, должна, etc. cover a wider range of expectation than the English "must." In contexts like this (expecting a baby or a scheduled event), it naturally translates to "is supposed to," "is expected to," or "is due to."
Why do we use the perfective verb родить instead of the imperfective рожать here?
The perfective родить is used because it refers to a single, completed future result: the specific event of her giving birth. The imperfective рожать would be used for the ongoing process of being in labor, or for giving birth repeatedly.
Why do we use через to say "in a week"?
When talking about an event that will happen after a certain amount of time has passed (meaning "in [X time]" or "after [X time]"), Russian uses через followed by the accusative case. So, через неделю literally means "after a week passes."
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