Breakdown of При всём великолепии формы мы боимся её хрупкости.
мы
we
бояться
to be afraid
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone (весь, вся, всё, все)
её
her (possessive)
Questions & Answers about При всём великолепии формы мы боимся её хрупкости.
How does the construction при всём + Prepositional case work here to mean "for all"?
In this advanced concessive construction, при combined with всём (the neuter Prepositional form of весь) translates to "for all" or "despite all". It requires the Prepositional case, which is why we see при всём великолепии. It is a formal, elegant way to introduce a contrast without using simple conjunctions like хотя (although).
Why does великолепии end in -ии rather than the usual Prepositional ending -е?
The neuter noun великолепие (magnificence) ends in -ие. Nouns ending in -ие (neuter) or -ия (feminine) always take -ии in the Prepositional case instead of the standard -е. This is a crucial spelling rule that applies to many abstract nouns.
Why is the word for fragility, хрупкость, in the Genitive case (хрупкости) here?
The verb бояться (to fear or to be afraid of) governs the Genitive case. Since we are afraid of the fragility, the feminine noun хрупкость takes its Genitive ending, becoming хрупкости.
What does её refer to in this sentence, and why doesn't it match the case of хрупкости?
The word её means "its" here, referring back to the feminine noun формы (the shape). Because её is a third-person possessive pronoun (meaning "her" or "its"), it is immutable in Russian. It never changes its form to agree with the noun it modifies, so it stays as её even when attached to the Genitive noun хрупкости.