Word
Мужчина в приёмной часто поглядывает на часы.
Meaning
The man in the waiting room frequently glances at the clock.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Мужчина в приёмной часто поглядывает на часы.
мужчина
man
часто
often
в
in / to (direction)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
Questions & Answers about Мужчина в приёмной часто поглядывает на часы.
How does the verb поглядывает change the meaning of the base verb глядеть (to look)?
The circumfix по- ... -ыва- adds an intermittent (from time to time) and attenuative (lightly, not intensely) meaning. Instead of a steady look, поглядывать means to take brief glances every now and then.
If поглядывает already implies doing something from time to time, isn't the word часто (frequently) redundant?
It might seem redundant, but it is a very natural combination in Russian. The verb provides the intermittent quality of the action (taking short glances), and часто specifies the frequency of those intervals. Together, they emphasize the man's impatience.
Why does the word for waiting room, приёмная, end like an adjective here (в приёмной)?
Приёмная is a substantivized adjective, meaning it acts as a noun but still declines like an adjective. It originally modified a dropped noun like комната (room). Here, it takes the feminine prepositional ending to show location.
Why do we use the accusative case for на часы instead of the prepositional case?
Although на can take the prepositional case to show location, verbs involving directing your gaze (like смотреть, глядеть, and поглядывать) use на plus the accusative case to show the target or direction of the look.