Breakdown of Взгляни на эту фотографию!
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
фотография
photograph
взглянуть
to glance, to take a look (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Взгляни на эту фотографию!
This lesson is about the attenuative prefix при- (like приглядеться). Why does this sentence use взгляни instead?
While the при- prefix often indicates a partial or careful action (so приглядись means "take a closer look" or "peer at"), взгляни uses the prefix вз- and the suffix -ну- to indicate a single, quick, complete action. It simply means "take a quick look" or "glance," which fits perfectly for casually pointing out a photo.
I know смотреть means "to look." How does взглянуть differ from just saying посмотри?
Both are perfective commands to look, but взглянуть specifically means to cast a glance or take a quick look. It has a slightly lighter, more instantaneous feel than посмотри, which is the standard, neutral command for "look."
Why is фотография in the Accusative case (на эту фотографию) rather than the Prepositional?
When you look or glance at something, Russian treats your gaze as moving toward a destination. The preposition на takes the Accusative case when indicating this kind of direction or metaphorical motion, whereas the Prepositional case would only be used to indicate where an object is statically resting.
How is the imperative form взгляни built from the infinitive взглянуть?
You start with the "they" form of the future tense: взглянут. Remove the ending -ут to get the stem взглян-. Because the first-person singular form is end-stressed (я взгляну), you add the stressed imperative ending -и to the stem, giving you взгляни.
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