Breakdown of Бабушка держит трость и почитывает газету.
и
and
газета
newspaper
бабушка
grandmother
держать
to hold, to keep
трость
cane (f)
почитывать
to read occasionally
Questions & Answers about Бабушка держит трость и почитывает газету.
How does почитывает change the meaning compared to just using читает?
The verb почитывать uses the circumfix по- and -ива- around the root of читать. This creates an intermittent-attenuative meaning, which tells us she is reading casually, a little bit at a time, or without intense focus. It gives a relaxed, continuous vibe to the action.
Wait, почитывает has the prefix по-. Doesn't that make it perfective?
Normally, adding a prefix like по- to an imperfective verb makes it perfective. However, this verb also adds the suffix -ива-, which makes it imperfective again. Because it is imperfective, it describes an ongoing process, which is why it pairs perfectly with the imperfective держит to describe simultaneous background actions.
Why doesn't the ending of трость change in the accusative case, while газету does?
Both are direct objects in the accusative case. However, трость is a feminine third-declension noun ending in a soft sign. For inanimate third-declension nouns, the accusative form is identical to the nominative. The word газета is a standard first-declension noun, so its ending changes from -а to -у.
Can I attach по- ... -ыва- or -ива- to any verb to mean doing something casually?
No, this structure is only used with a limited set of verbs that describe continuous or repetitive everyday activities. Other common examples you might hear include попивать (to sip or drink casually), посматривать (to glance from time to time), and похаживать (to stroll or pace).
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