Breakdown of Вчера я наконец смог выспаться, и теперь чувствую облегчение.
и
and
я
I
вчера
yesterday
теперь
now (as opposed to before)
наконец
finally
чувствовать
to feel
смочь
to manage to, to be able to (perfective)
выспаться
to get enough sleep
облегчение
the relief
Questions & Answers about Вчера я наконец смог выспаться, и теперь чувствую облегчение.
What exactly does the combination of вы- and -ся add to the basic verb спать in this sentence?
The combination of the prefix вы- and the postfix -ся indicates that an action was performed until you are completely satisfied or saturated. While спать simply means to sleep, выспаться means to get enough sleep, or to sleep until you are completely rested.
Why is the perfective past tense смог used here instead of the imperfective мог?
The perfective смог specifically means that you managed to do something. You made an attempt and succeeded on this specific occasion. The imperfective мог would only mean you had the ability or opportunity to sleep, but it would not confirm whether you actually achieved the result.
Why does выспаться have to be perfective here?
After verbs denoting successful completion of a specific, single action like смог, the following infinitive needs to be perfective to focus on the achieved result. You successfully reached the state of being fully rested, so the perfective выспаться is the only correct choice.
I know the word легко (easy or light). Is it related to облегчение (relief)?
Yes, they share the same root! The root легк- changes to легч- here due to a regular spelling rule. With the prefix об- and the noun ending -ение, it literally describes the process of making something lighter. So feeling облегчение is the feeling of a heavy burden like exhaustion being lifted from you.
Learn Вчера я наконец смог выспаться, и теперь чувствую облегчение and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free