Breakdown of Зимами наши реки замерзают и покрываются льдом.
и
and
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
зима
winter
река
river
лёд
ice
замерзать
to freeze (from cold, turn to ice)
покрываться
to become covered
Questions & Answers about Зимами наши реки замерзают и покрываются льдом.
Why use the plural зимами instead of the singular зимой here?
Зимами is the bare instrumental plural of зима. We use this form for seasons to emphasize temporal iteration, meaning the action happens repeatedly, "every winter" or "during the winters." While the singular зимой ("in winter") can also make a general statement, зимами strongly stresses the recurring, habitual nature of the freezing.
Given that the rivers completely freeze over, why use the imperfective verbs замерзают and покрываются?
Because the word зимами establishes that this is a habitual, repeated action. In Russian, recurring actions always require imperfective verbs, even if the action reaches a complete, finished result every single time it happens.
Why is the word for ice (льдом) in the instrumental case?
The verb покрываться (to become covered) takes an object in the bare instrumental case to indicate the material doing the covering. You can think of it literally as "the rivers cover themselves by means of ice."
Why does the nominative word лёд (ice) change to льдом instead of "лёдом"?
The letter "ё" in лёд is a fleeting vowel. When a grammatical ending is added to the word, that vowel drops out. The soft sign (ь) is left behind to indicate that the л remains soft, resulting in the stem ль- and the instrumental form льдом.
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