Breakdown of Ей обидно выбрасывать подарки, жаль их терять.
их
them (acc)
подарок
gift, present
ей
to her
терять
to lose
жаль
it is a pity
выбрасывать
to throw away (imperfective)
обидно
hurtful
Questions & Answers about Ей обидно выбрасывать подарки, жаль их терять.
Where is the subject in the second part of the sentence, "жаль их терять"?
This is an impersonal construction, so there is no grammatical subject in the nominative case. The logical subject is ей (to her) from the first half, which carries over implicitly: (ей) жаль их терять. Words like жаль and обидно express states and require the dative case for the person experiencing the feeling.
What is the exact difference in meaning between обидно and жаль here?
Жаль expresses a general feeling of pity, regret, or sadness (it is a pity). Обидно is more personal; it means something feels unfair, hurtful, or deeply disappointing. Throwing gifts away actively hurts her feelings (обидно), while losing them is a sad shame (жаль).
Why do we use the imperfective infinitives выбрасывать and терять instead of their perfective forms?
This sentence describes a general attitude, not a specific, one-time event. When talking about how someone feels about an action in principle (like the very idea of throwing away gifts), Russian typically uses the imperfective aspect.
Why does the pronoun их come before the infinitive терять?
Russian word order is flexible, and placing the short pronoun object before the infinitive (жаль их терять) flows very naturally. You could say жаль терять их, but putting the pronoun at the very end would place unnecessary emphasis on the word "them".
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