Question 1

Since после (after) takes the Genitive case, why doesn't год change to года after спустя?

Accepted Answer

Unlike после, the preposition спустя requires the Accusative case. Because год (year) is a masculine inanimate noun, its Accusative form is identical to its Nominative form, so it stays год. If you used a feminine noun, you would clearly see the case change, for example: спустя неделю (after a week).

Question 2

Could I say через год instead of спустя год in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you could, but there is a nuance. Спустя specifically emphasizes that a certain amount of time has elapsed or passed, often looking back from a later point in a narrative ('a year later'). Через is more neutral and is heavily used to project into the future ('in a year'), though it works in the past too. Спустя gives this sentence a slightly more literary or storytelling feel.

Question 3

I sometimes see the time word placed before спустя. Is год спустя correct too?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Спустя is unique among Russian prepositions because it can also act as a postposition, meaning it can come directly after the noun it modifies. Год спустя and спустя год mean the exact same thing, and both are very common in Russian.

Question 4

What is the imperfective counterpart to созрел, and why use the perfective here?

Accepted Answer

The imperfective form is созревать (to mature / to ripen). The perfective созрел is used here because the process of the cheese maturing is completely finished and a result has been achieved. If you wanted to say the cheese was in the process of maturing during that time, you would use the imperfective: наш сыр созревал.

Спустя год наш сыр созрел.

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