Breakdown of Обычно маленький пожар тушится быстро, так что одного огнетушителя хватит.
маленький
small
обычно
usually
быстро
fast, quickly
один
one
хватить
to be enough, to suffice
пожар
fire (destructive event)
так что
so / with the result that (conjunction)
огнетушитель
fire extinguisher
тушить
to extinguish
Questions & Answers about Обычно маленький пожар тушится быстро, так что одного огнетушителя хватит.
Why does тушится have the -ся ending here if the fire isn't doing anything to itself?
In Russian, adding -ся to an imperfective verb often creates a passive meaning, especially for general or habitual actions. Here, тушится translates to the passive voice 'is extinguished' rather than the fire doing the action.
Why is одного огнетушителя in the Genitive case?
The verb хватить (to be enough) requires the thing that is sufficient to be in the Genitive case. You can think of it literally as 'there will be enough of one fire extinguisher.'
The first part of the sentence uses the present tense (тушится), but хватит is future tense. Why do they mix?
The first clause uses the imperfective present to describe a general truth ('Usually a small fire is extinguished quickly'). The second clause uses the perfective future хватит to state the guaranteed result for any given instance: 'so [if one happens], one extinguisher will be enough.'
Is the word огнетушителя related to the verb тушится?
Yes! The nominative form огнетушитель (fire extinguisher) is a compound noun. It combines огонь (fire) with the root of тушить (to extinguish), plus the suffix -тель, which indicates a tool or person that performs the action.
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