Breakdown of При всём старании стеклодув не выдул расплавленное стекло.
не
not
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
стекло
glass (material)
при
in the presence of, under, at
стеклодув
glassblower
расплавленный
molten
выдуть
to blow (out)
старание
effort
Questions & Answers about При всём старании стеклодув не выдул расплавленное стекло.
Why is при всём старании used here to mean "for all his effort", and what case is it?
The preposition при plus всём, всей, or всех followed by a noun in the Prepositional case creates an advanced concessive phrase. It implies "despite" or "for all [the]". Because старание (effort) is neuter, it takes the neuter Prepositional forms всём старании.
Why do we use the perfective verb не выдул here? Doesn't negation usually take the imperfective aspect?
Negation does frequently take the imperfective to state that an event simply didn't occur. However, the perfective не выдул is used here because the focus is on the failure to achieve a specific result. The glassblower made the attempt, but ultimately failed to complete the action.
How is the noun стеклодув (glassblower) constructed?
It is a compound noun made of two roots: стекл- from стекло (glass) and -дув from дуть (to blow), joined by the connecting vowel о. This is a very common way to form profession names in Russian.
What type of word is расплавленное (molten)?
It is a past passive participle formed from the perfective verb расплавить (to melt). It acts just like an adjective describing стекло (glass), so it is in the neuter Accusative case to match the direct object.
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