Breakdown of По мере того как мы стареем, тело слабеет, и появляются морщины.
и
and
мы
we
появляться
to appear
тело
body
стареть
to age
по мере того как
as
слабеть
to weaken
морщина
wrinkle
Questions & Answers about По мере того как мы стареем, тело слабеет, и появляются морщины.
How exactly does По мере того как break down, and why is того used here?
The phrase literally translates to "by the measure of that, how..." The word мере is the prepositional case of мера (measure) after the preposition по (here meaning "according to"). This phrase requires the genitive case for the following pronoun, which is why we use того (the genitive of то). Finally, как connects it to the action clause.
Why are all three verbs in this sentence (стареем, слабеет, появляются) in the imperfective aspect?
The conjunction по мере того как describes processes happening simultaneously and gradually. Because these are ongoing, parallel progressions changing over time rather than completed, single events, Russian requires the imperfective aspect for all the verbs involved.
Why is the word order появляются морщины (verb-subject) instead of морщины появляются?
In Russian, sentences often end with the new or most important information. With verbs of existence or appearance like появляться, placing the subject at the end emphasizes the arrival or existence of the thing itself. Saying морщины появляются would sound more like "the wrinkles (that we are already talking about) are appearing."
Why is there a comma before и in и появляются морщины? Don't we usually skip the comma before и?
You only skip the comma before и when it connects items in a list or verbs sharing the exact same subject. Here, и connects two entirely independent clauses with different subjects: тело слабеет (the body weakens) and появляются морщины (wrinkles appear). In compound sentences like this, a comma is required before и.
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