Questions & Answers about После войны они годами скитались по Европе.
Why is годами in the instrumental case here?
The bare instrumental plural is used to express extended, often tedious or impressive duration. Here, годами emphasizes that they wandered 'for years and years.' It gives a stronger emotional flavor of an ongoing, dragging process compared to a simple time expression.
Does the time phrase годами dictate the aspect of the verb скитались?
Yes. Time phrases that emphasize a stretched-out, continuous duration like годами (for years) or часами (for hours) require the imperfective aspect. The focus is entirely on the ongoing process of wandering over a long period, not on completing a single, bounded trip.
Why do we use по Европе (Dative) instead of в Европе (Prepositional)?
The preposition по followed by the Dative case indicates multidirectional motion scattered across an area ('around' or 'all over' Europe). While в Европе would just mean the action happened within Europe, по Европе specifically highlights their continuous movement from place to place across the continent.
What is the exact nuance of the verb скитались here?
Скитаться specifically means to wander or roam out of necessity, often without a home or a clear destination. It implies hardship and displacement, which perfectly fits the context of people moving around 'after the war.' It is very different from путешествовать, which means to travel for pleasure or a specific purpose.