Breakdown of Говорят, что во время гастролей певец потерял голос.
говорить
to speak, to talk
что
that (conjunction)
потерять
to lose (perfective)
певец
singer (m)
во время
during
голос
voice
гастроли
the tour (performances)
Questions & Answers about Говорят, что во время гастролей певец потерял голос.
Why does the sentence start with just говорят instead of они говорят?
This is an indefinite-personal clause. By dropping the pronoun они, the focus shifts from specific people to the general action or rumor. It is the exact Russian equivalent of the English phrase "They say..." or "Rumor has it...", where the speaker doesn't have specific people in mind.
What case is гастролей in, and why is it plural?
It is in the genitive case because it follows the prepositional phrase во время (during), which always requires the genitive. The word гастроли (a tour or series of performances) is a plural-only noun in Russian, so it takes the genitive plural ending -ей.
The English translation says "his voice," so why isn't there a word like свой before голос?
In Russian, possessive pronouns are usually dropped when the context makes it obvious who the owner is. This is especially true for body parts and inherent attributes like голос (voice). Adding свой or его here would sound unnaturally redundant.
Could I use the imperfective verb терял instead of the perfective потерял?
No, you need the perfective потерял because the singer lost his voice as a single, completed event with a clear result. Using the imperfective терял would sound strange, implying he was repeatedly losing and finding his voice throughout the tour.
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