Word
Портной взял булавку, чтобы сделать складку на талии.
Meaning
The tailor took a pin in order to make a fold at the waist.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Портной взял булавку, чтобы сделать складку на талии.
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
сделать
to do (perfective) / to make (perfective)
взять
to take / to adopt
чтобы
in order to
Questions & Answers about Портной взял булавку, чтобы сделать складку на талии.
Since this lesson is about comparatives with по-, how would you change this sentence to say the tailor wanted to make the fold 'a little smaller'?
You would use поменьше (a little smaller) and place it after the noun: Портной взял булавку, чтобы сделать складку поменьше. Adding the prefix по- to a comparative softens its meaning, turning 'smaller' into 'a bit smaller'.
Why does the noun Портной (tailor) have an adjective ending?
Портной is a substantivized adjective. This means it functions entirely as a noun in the sentence, but it still changes its endings exactly like a standard masculine adjective when it declines (for example, the genitive would be портного and the dative портному).
Could we use a conjugated verb instead of the infinitive сделать after чтобы?
Not in this sentence. Because the subject performing both actions is the same (the tailor took the pin, and the tailor is making the fold), чтобы must be followed by the infinitive. You only use чтобы + past tense when the subjects are different (e.g., 'The tailor took a pin so that I could make a fold' would be ...чтобы я сделал...).
Why is на used with талии instead of в?