Choosing case and aspect in a short weekend narrative
A student writes a short paragraph about last Sunday for a grammar test. The draft contains three underlined choices: «В воскресенье я гулял (в парке / в парк) и встретил друга. Мы договорились (о встрече / о встречу) в кафе. Когда я пришёл, мой друг уже (читал / прочитал) книгу и ждал меня.» The teacher does not accept «it sounds better» as an explanation; students must use the surrounding words and the meaning of the sentence. A second student argues that «прочитал» is better because «already» usually signals a completed action. The teacher asks the class to compare «уже читал» and «уже прочитал» in this specific sentence. The class must also correct one more sentence: «Я не смог пойти, потому что заболел всю неделю.»
1. Choose the correct form in «Мы договорились (о встрече / о встречу)» and explain the case using the preposition.
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The correct form is «о встрече». The verb «договориться» is followed by the preposition «о» when it means to agree about something: «договориться о чём?». In Russian, «о» (and «об») governs the prepositional case. «Встреча» is a feminine noun ending in «-а»; its prepositional case form is «встрече». «О встречу» would be the accusative form, which is not used after «о» in this construction. The test is not simply memorising a list: the student must see the preposition «о» and the question «о чём?» to choose the case.
2. In «Когда я пришёл, друг уже (читал / прочитал) книгу», which is better if the friend was still holding the book and waiting? Explain the aspect difference.
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«Читал» is better in this context. The imperfective past «читал» presents the action as ongoing at the moment of arrival: the friend was in the middle of reading. The perfective «прочитал» presents the action as completed: he had finished the book. The word «уже» does not automatically require the perfective. Here «уже» can mean that the action had started earlier than expected. The second part «и ждал меня» supports the ongoing reading, because both actions describe the situation when the writer arrived. If the sentence said «друг уже прочитал книгу и положил её на стол», the perfective would be natural because the result is emphasised.
3. Correct «Я не смог пойти, потому что заболел всю неделю» and explain why the other form is needed.
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The correction is: «Я не смог пойти, потому что болел всю неделю.» The phrase «всю неделю» expresses duration, and duration is normally described with the imperfective verb «болел» (was ill for the whole week). «Заболел» is perfective and focuses on the moment of falling ill; it does not combine naturally with «всю неделю». The meaning changes: «заболел» answers «what happened?», while «болел всю неделю» answers «what state lasted?». A student who writes «заболел всю неделю» is mixing a point event with a duration expression.