Word
Спустя год они проверили координаты горы Эльбрус и острова Сахалин.
Meaning
A year later, they checked the coordinates of Mount Elbrus and the island of Sakhalin.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Спустя год они проверили координаты горы Эльбрус и острова Сахалин.
и
and
они
they
год
year
гора
mountain
Questions & Answers about Спустя год они проверили координаты горы Эльбрус и острова Сахалин.
Why are Эльбрус and Сахалин in the nominative case here instead of the genitive?
The generic nouns горы (mountain) and острова (island) are in the genitive case because they belong to координаты (the coordinates of...). However, proper names of mountains, islands, and lakes act as appositives (a noun identifying the one next to it) and typically do not decline to match the case of the generic noun. They stay in the nominative.
Would it be grammatically wrong to decline Эльбрус and Сахалин to match горы and острова?
Yes, in modern standard Russian. For islands, mountains, and peninsulas, declining the proper name when the generic word is present (like координаты горы Эльбруса) is considered incorrect or outdated. They must remain in the nominative.
Why is год used here instead of года after спустя?
The preposition спустя (later or after) requires the accusative case, not the genitive. Since год is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.
Could I say через год instead of спустя год?
Yes, через год is very common and means exactly the same thing. Спустя год sounds slightly more formal or literary, which fits well with a sentence about checking geographical coordinates.