Breakdown of Студент привстал, чтобы ответить на вопрос.
студент
student (m)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
вопрос
question
ответить
to answer (perfective)
чтобы
in order to
привстать
to half-rise
Questions & Answers about Студент привстал, чтобы ответить на вопрос.
How does the prefix при- change the meaning of встать in the word привстал?
The prefix при- here indicates the Attenuative (Смягчительный) Aktionsart, meaning the action is performed slightly, partially, or for a short time. While встал means the student fully stood up, привстал means he only half-rose or lifted himself slightly out of his seat.
What is the aspect of привстал, and does it have an imperfective pair?
Привстал is perfective, focusing on the single, completed action of half-rising. Its imperfective pair is привставать. Attenuative verbs with при- usually form regular aspectual pairs just like their base verbs do (compare вставать and встать).
Why is the infinitive ответить used after чтобы, instead of putting the verb in the past tense like привстал?
Because the subject of both actions is the same (the student). When the person performing the action in the main clause is the same as the one in the чтобы purpose clause, we use the infinitive. If he stood up so that someone else could answer, you would use the past tense: ... чтобы она ответила.
Why do we say ответить на вопрос instead of just using the Dative case, like we do when answering a person?
In Russian, you answer a person using the Dative case without a preposition (for example, ответить студенту). However, when you answer a thing, such as a question, a letter, or a phone call, you must use the preposition на followed by the Accusative case.
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