Breakdown of Стоило дежурному позвонить, как пожарный выбежал, надевая шлем.
шлем
helmet
позвонить
to call, to phone (perfective)
надевать
to put on (clothing)
выбежать
to run out
как
than (in 'no sooner ... than')
стоить
one had only to (as soon as)
пожарный
firefighter
дежурный
duty officer
Questions & Answers about Стоило дежурному позвонить, как пожарный выбежал, надевая шлем.
Why is дежурному in the dative case here?
This is required by the стоило ... как construction, which means 'as soon as' or 'no sooner had'. In this structure, the person performing the first action is the logical subject and must take the dative case. The action itself stays in the infinitive (позвонить).
Could we use когда instead of как in this sentence?
Not with стоило. The construction стоило (plus dative and infinitive) strictly pairs with как to mean 'as soon as X happened, Y immediately followed'. Using когда here would be a grammatical mistake.
Are дежурный and пожарный nouns or adjectives?
They are adjectives that function entirely as nouns (substantivized adjectives). They mean 'duty officer' (literally 'the on-duty one') and 'firefighter'. Because of their forms, they decline exactly like standard adjectives, which is why we get the dative adjective ending -ому in дежурному.
What form is надевая and why use it here?
Надевая is an imperfective verbal adverb (sometimes called a gerund). It describes a background action happening at the exact same time as the main action (выбежал). It efficiently translates to 'putting on' or 'while putting on' without needing a whole new clause.
How does the prefix in выбежал change the meaning of the verb?
The prefix вы- means 'out' or 'exit'. When attached to the unidirectional verb of motion бежать (to run), it creates the perfective verb выбежать (to run out), capturing the sudden, completed action of the firefighter exiting.
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