Breakdown of Приехали три гостя, а именно: брат, сестра и дядя.
брат
brother
сестра
sister
три
three
дядя
uncle
Questions & Answers about Приехали три гостя, а именно: брат, сестра и дядя.
Why is the verb Приехали in the plural, but гостя is in the singular?
The complete subject is три гостя (three guests). After the numbers 2, 3, and 4, nouns take the genitive singular (гостя). However, because the guests are animate (people) and actively performing the action, Russian prefers the plural verb приехали over the neuter singular приехало.
What is the role of а именно in this sentence?
The phrase а именно means "namely" or "specifically." It is an explanatory conjunction used to introduce a detailed list or clarification of a general term you just mentioned. When it introduces a list like this, it is standard to put a comma before it and a colon after it.
Why are брат, сестра и дядя in the nominative case, while гостя is in the genitive?
The whole phrase три гостя acts as the subject of the sentence, meaning its overall grammatical role is nominative. The listed items are appositions (they rename the subject), so they must match that overall nominative role, rather than copying the genitive singular form forced by the number три.
Could I drop the а and just write именно: брат...?
Not in this context. When introducing a clarifying list meaning "namely," you must use the fixed phrase а именно. If you used именно alone, it would act as an emphatic particle meaning "exactly" or "specifically that one," which doesn't fit the grammar of introducing a list of items here.