Breakdown of Он всю жизнь делал добро людям.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
человек
person
делать
to do
жизнь
life
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone
добро
the good, the kindness (n)
Questions & Answers about Он всю жизнь делал добро людям.
Why is всю жизнь in the accusative case here instead of using a preposition?
In Russian, when you state how long an action lasts (duration), you use the accusative case without any prepositions. Here, всю жизнь answers the question "for how long?", so the accusative is used to show the continuous duration of the action.
Why is the verb делал in the imperfective aspect?
The imperfective aspect is used because the action was an ongoing habit or repeated behavior over a long period of time (всю жизнь). If we used the perfective сделал, it would imply he did one single good deed and finished it as a one-time event.
Is добро an adjective or adverb in this sentence?
It is actually a neuter noun here, meaning "goodness" or "good deeds." While добро can be a short adjective or an adverb in other contexts, here it acts as the direct object of the verb делал (he did what? he did good).
Why is the word for "people" (людям) in the dative case?
The dative case is used for the indirect object of an action, showing who receives or benefits from it. Because he did good to or for people, the plural noun люди changes to the dative form людям.
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