Breakdown of Мы прошли мимо старой птичьей клетки.
мы
we
старый
old
мимо
past (moving by)
пройти
to pass (perfective)
клетка
cage
птичий
bird's
Questions & Answers about Мы прошли мимо старой птичьей клетки.
Why does the adjective птичьей have a soft sign (ь) in it?
This is the feminine genitive form of the possessive adjective птичий (bird's). For possessive adjectives ending in -ий, a soft sign (ь) is kept before the ending in all forms except the masculine nominative and inanimate accusative. The feminine nominative is птичья, and in the genitive case, it becomes птичьей.
Why are the words старой птичьей клетки in the genitive case?
The preposition мимо (past / by) always requires the genitive case. Because клетка (cage) is a feminine noun, the entire phrase старая птичья клетка declines into the feminine genitive: старой птичьей клетки.
How does the prefix про- change the verb in прошли?
The prefix про- here adds the spatial meaning of moving past, through, or by something. Combined with the preposition мимо, прошли (perfective) emphasizes the completed action of having walked past the cage. Using the un-prefixed, imperfective шли мимо would mean the action was still in progress (we were walking past).
Why use the possessive adjective птичьей instead of just using the noun for bird?
English frequently stacks nouns to make compound concepts (like bird cage, dog house, cat toy). Russian typically prefers using a possessive or relational adjective to modify the noun instead. Thus, a bird cage is naturally expressed as птичья клетка (literally an avian cage or bird's cage).
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