Breakdown of Там, где пряталась волчья стая, мы нашли большие когти и клыки.
и
and
где
where / wherever
там
there
мы
we
большой
big
найти
to find
прятаться
to hide
стая
the flock
волчий
wolf's
коготь
claw
клык
fang
Questions & Answers about Там, где пряталась волчья стая, мы нашли большие когти и клыки.
Why is the word for wolf волчья here, and how does it relate to the base form?
Волчья is a possessive adjective meaning belonging to a wolf. Because it modifies the feminine noun стая (pack) in the nominative case, it takes the feminine ending -ья. The dictionary form for masculine nouns is волчий.
Why start the sentence with Там, где instead of just using Где for where?
Russian frequently uses correlative pairs like там, где (literally there, where) to link a location clause to the main sentence. While starting with just Где is sometimes used, Там, где is the standard and most natural way to establish a specific location for the main action.
Why does пряталась have the reflexive suffix -сь, and why is it imperfective?
The base verb прятать means to hide a separate object. To say the pack was hiding itself, you must add the reflexive suffix to make it прятаться (which becomes пряталась to match the feminine noun стая). It is imperfective because the hiding was an ongoing background state, while the main action of finding the claws (нашли) is a completed perfective event.
What case are большие когти и клыки in?
They are in the accusative case because they are the direct objects of the verb нашли (we found). Because both когти (claws) and клыки (fangs) are inanimate plural nouns, their accusative endings look exactly the same as their nominative endings.
Learn Там, где пряталась волчья стая, мы нашли большие когти и клыки and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free