Breakdown of Как часто вы поглядываете в телефон, когда ждёте врача?
вы
you (plural)
врач
doctor
телефон
phone
часто
often
как
how
в
in / to (direction)
когда
when
ждать
to wait (imperfective)
поглядывать
to glance occasionally
Questions & Answers about Как часто вы поглядываете в телефон, когда ждёте врача?
How does the verb поглядываете get its meaning of "glance from time to time"?
It uses the intermittent-attenuative pattern taught in this lesson. We start with the root of глядеть (to look/glance). By adding the prefix по- and the suffix -ыва-, we get the verb поглядывать. The по- adds the idea of doing something "a little bit" (attenuative), and -ыва- makes it an ongoing or repeated action (intermittent). Together, it means "to look a little bit, from time to time" — perfectly describing how we check a phone.
Why do we use в телефон (into the phone) instead of на телефон (at the phone)?
In Russian, when you look at a screen (like a phone, computer, or TV), you typically look into it (в + accusative) rather than onto its surface (на + accusative). If you said на телефон, it would sound like you are inspecting the physical object itself (perhaps checking for a cracked case) rather than looking at the content on the screen.
Why is врача in the accusative case here instead of the genitive?
The verb ждать (to wait) takes the accusative case for specific, definite people or things (like a specific doctor you have an appointment with). It takes the genitive case for abstract concepts or indefinite objects (like waiting for a bus to come along). Because врач is animate, its accusative form looks exactly like its genitive form (врача), but grammatically it functions as the accusative direct object here.
Does the word часто (often) force us to use the imperfective aspect for поглядываете?
Yes! Words that indicate repetition or frequency, such as часто (often), всегда (always), or каждый день (every day), almost always trigger the imperfective aspect. Even though a single "glance" is a quick, momentary action, the fact that you do it repeatedly while waiting means we must use the imperfective verb поглядывать.
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