Breakdown of Зимами они выживают, доставая пищу из-под снега.
они
they
зима
winter
снег
snow
доставать
to take out (from a pocket or container)
из-под
from under
выживать
to survive (imperfective)
пища
food (formal, nourishment)
Questions & Answers about Зимами они выживают, доставая пищу из-под снега.
Why is зимами in the instrumental plural here instead of just using зимой?
Зимами is the bare instrumental plural of зима, used here to show temporal iteration, meaning an action happens repeatedly over multiple seasons. While зимой just means 'in winter', зимами specifically emphasizes 'during the winters' or 'winter after winter'.
What verb form is доставая, and why is it used here?
It is an imperfective verbal adverb, meaning 'getting' or 'by getting'. It indicates an ongoing action that happens at the exact same time as the main verb (выживают). It is used here to explain the method of how they survive.
Why is there a hyphen in из-под, and what case follows it?
Из-под is a compound preposition meaning 'from under'. In Russian, compound prepositions formed with из or по (like из-за or из-под) are always hyphenated. Since it indicates motion out of a location, it requires the genitive case, which gives us снега.
Could we use the perfective verb выживут instead of the imperfective выживают here?
No, because the sentence describes a habitual, repeated action that happens every winter. The perfective выживут would mean 'they will survive', referring to a single, completed future event, which clashes with the repeated nature of зимами.
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