Breakdown of Он пробивался вперёд и летел стрелой.
и
and
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
лететь
to fly (one direction)
вперёд
forward
стрела
the arrow
пробиваться
to fight one's way / to break through
Questions & Answers about Он пробивался вперёд и летел стрелой.
Why is стрелой in the instrumental case? Doesn't that mean "with an arrow"?
This is the "metaphorical instrumental" (or instrumental of comparison). While the instrumental case usually means "with" or "by means of", using it without a preposition can express doing something "like a [noun]". Here, летел стрелой means "flew like an arrow". This pattern is common in Russian idioms and literature, such as выть волком (to howl like a wolf).
How does пробивался translate to "fought his way"?
Let's break down the word-building. The root verb is бить (to hit or beat). The prefix про- often denotes moving "through" an obstacle. Finally, the reflexive particle -ся points the action back at the subject. So, пробиваться literally means "to beat oneself through", which translates smoothly to forcing or fighting one's way forward.
Why is the unidirectional verb летел used here instead of the multidirectional летал?
The word вперёд (forward) gives the action a specific, single direction. Because the subject is moving continuously along one path at this moment, you must use the unidirectional verb of motion лететь (past tense летел). If he were darting around randomly in all directions, you would use летал.
Both verbs (пробивался and летел) are imperfective. What would happen if we used perfective verbs instead?
The imperfective aspect paints a picture of a continuous process unfolding simultaneously—he was forcing his way and was flying. If we used perfective verbs like пробился and полетел, the sentence would sound like a sequence of completed results: "He managed to break through, and then he took off flying like an arrow."
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