Breakdown of Шеф просил зайти к нему до обеда.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
обед
lunch
просить
to ask for, to request
зайти
to drop in / stop by (pf, on foot)
шеф
the boss, the chief (m)
Questions & Answers about Шеф просил зайти к нему до обеда.
Where is the word for 'me' in this sentence?
In Russian, it is very common to drop the direct object pronoun (like меня) if it is obvious from the context. The sentence literally says 'The boss asked to drop by...', but it is understood that he was asking the speaker. If you wanted to be explicit, it would be Шеф просил меня зайти.
Why use the imperfective просил instead of the perfective попросил for a specific request?
Using the imperfective past tense for a single request is a common conversational tool. It focuses on the fact that the conversation took place rather than the result, often making the statement sound a bit more casual. Попросил would also be perfectly correct but sounds slightly more definitive.
Why do we use the preposition к in зайти к нему?
When you are expressing motion toward a person (such as visiting someone at their office or home), you must use the preposition к followed by the Dative case. You would use в or на plus the Accusative case when going to a place, like в офис (to the office).
Why does the pronoun have an 'н' added to it in к нему?
Whenever third-person pronouns (like он, она, оно, они) directly follow a preposition, Russian adds an н- to the beginning of the word for easier pronunciation. The Dative form of он is ему, so after the preposition к it becomes к нему.
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