Breakdown of Мама вызвала врача утром.
мама
mom
врач
doctor
утром
in the morning
вызвать
to call, to summon (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Мама вызвала врача утром.
Why does врач change to врача here? Doesn't the -а ending usually mean a word is feminine?
Here, the doctor is the direct object receiving the action, so the word is in the accusative case. For masculine nouns that are animate (living things like people or animals), the accusative case copies the genitive case ending, which is -а. So, врач becomes врача.
If I wanted to say Mom called her friend, would I still use вызвала?
No, you would use позвонила for a normal phone call. The verb вызвать means to summon, send for, or call out a professional service. You use it for things like calling a doctor, the police, or a taxi.
Why is the word for morning, утро, spelled as утром in this sentence?
Утром is the instrumental case form of утро. Russian uses the instrumental case for parts of the day to say when something happens. So, утром translates to 'in the morning', just like днём means 'in the afternoon'.
Why is the perfective verb вызвала used here instead of the imperfective вызывала?
The perfective form is used because this was a single, successfully completed action with a clear result. Mom made the call, and the summoning is done. If she had been trying to call the doctor over and over without success, you would use the imperfective вызывала.