Breakdown of Мы встретились с оптовым поставщиком.
мы
we
с
with (also со)
встретиться
to meet / to meet up (with each other)
поставщик
supplier
Questions & Answers about Мы встретились с оптовым поставщиком.
What is the difference between мы встретились с поставщиком and мы встретили поставщика?
Встретиться с (followed by the Instrumental case) implies a planned, mutual meeting, which makes perfect sense for a business context. On the other hand, встретить (followed by the Accusative case) usually means to run into someone by chance, or to greet someone arriving at a station.
Does the adjective оптовым relate to the lesson's focus on quantities?
Yes, indirectly! While it isn't a numerical noun like десяток, оптовый means wholesale or in bulk. It comes from the noun опт (wholesale). When dealing with an оптовый поставщик, you would naturally use the grouping words from this lesson to order large quantities. If you want to talk about retail instead, the word is розничный.
How is the word поставщик formed?
It is built from the verb root found in поставлять or поставить, meaning to supply or deliver. The suffix -щик is a very common way to form nouns denoting a person's profession or role, similar to the English suffix '-er'. You have likely seen this before in words like уборщик (cleaner) or its spelling variant -чик in переводчик (translator).