Word
Они неделями беспрерывно спорили.
Meaning
They argued continuously for weeks.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Они неделями беспрерывно спорили.
они
they
спорить
to argue
неделя
week
беспрерывно
continuously
Questions & Answers about Они неделями беспрерывно спорили.
Why is неделями in the instrumental case?
Here, the bare instrumental plural неделями means "for weeks on end." This is a special use of the instrumental case to show an extended, uninterrupted duration of time or something happening iteratively over a long period. You will also see this pattern with words like часами (for hours) and годами (for years).
Could I just say много недель (many weeks) instead of неделями?
You could, but неделями adds a stronger emotional emphasis. It doesn't just state a large quantity of weeks; it conveys the feeling of "for weeks and weeks," emphasizing how tiresomely long the continuous arguing lasted.
Why is the imperfective verb спорили used here instead of the perfective поспорили?
The imperfective спорили is required because the sentence focuses entirely on the ongoing process and extended duration of the action, as clearly indicated by неделями and беспрерывно. The perfective поспорили would mean they had a single, completed argument.
How is the adverb беспрерывно (continuously) formed?
It comes from the root -рыв- (related to tearing or breaking). You likely already know the noun перерыв (a break or pause). Combined with the prefix бес- (without), беспрерывно literally translates to "without a break."