Breakdown of Из-за работы она чувствовала сильное напряжение, пока не смогла выплакаться.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
работа
work, job
сильный
strong
чувствовать
to feel
из-за
because of; from behind
смочь
to manage to, to be able to (perfective)
пока не
until
напряжение
the tension
выплакаться
to have a good cry
Questions & Answers about Из-за работы она чувствовала сильное напряжение, пока не смогла выплакаться.
How does the prefix вы- and postfix -ся change the basic verb плакать here?
The combination of вы- and -ся adds the meaning of doing an action to the point of complete saturation, relief, or exhaustion. While плакать simply means to cry, выплакаться means to cry it all out or to have a good cry until you feel relieved. This perfectly fits the idea of releasing her strong tension.
Why is there a не before смогла when the English translation doesn't have a negative?
In Russian, the phrase пока не translates to until. When describing an ongoing state that waits for a specific, completed result to end it, Russian uses this extra не with a perfective verb. You can think of the logic as: as long as she was NOT able to cry it out, she continued to feel tension.
Why do we use из-за for because of here instead of благодаря?
You cannot use благодаря here because it means thanks to and is reserved for positive outcomes. Since the work caused her strong tension (a negative outcome), you must use из-за followed by the genitive case (работы).
Why do we mix imperfective (чувствовала) and perfective (смогла) past tense verbs in this sentence?
The imperfective чувствовала sets up an ongoing background state, showing she was continuously feeling tension over a period of time. The perfective смогла pinpoints the exact, successful moment that ended that state when she finally managed to cry.
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