Breakdown of Под утро профессор заволновался, так как заметил отклонение.
профессор
professor
утро
morning
так как
since, as
заволноваться
to get worried
Questions & Answers about Под утро профессор заволновался, так как заметил отклонение.
Why is под used with the accusative case here, and what exactly does под утро mean?
In this sentence, под combined with the accusative case noun утро indicates time approximation, meaning 'towards' or 'just before' morning. You will often see под used this way for time and age to show that an event happens closely approaching a certain point.
What does the prefix за- add to the verb волноваться in заволновался?
The prefix за- often indicates the sudden beginning of an action or state. Here, it changes the imperfective волноваться (to be worrying) into the perfective заволновался, meaning he 'became worried' or 'started to worry' at that specific moment.
Why use так как instead of потому что for 'as' or 'because'?
Both mean 'because' or 'since', but так как is slightly more formal and is often used in written Russian or when explaining a logical cause-and-effect relationship, like a professor observing data. Also, unlike потому что, a clause starting with так как can comfortably be placed at the very beginning of a sentence.
Why doesn't the word утро change its ending if it is in the accusative case?
The word утро is a neuter noun. In Russian, neuter nouns have identical forms for the nominative and accusative cases. So, even though it is grammatically accusative to satisfy the rule for под when showing approaching time, it looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.