Russian words for “both”

  There are two words (or rather, two forms of a word) for “both” in Russian language:

оба — for masculine and neutral nouns

обе — for feminine nouns.

Examples:

masc.

оба носка — both socks

оба друга — both friends

neutral

оба ведра — both buckets

оба солнца — both suns

fem.

обе девушки — both girls

обе стороны — both sides

Sentences:

When Russian prepositions are in love...

  What happens when two prepositions meet and fall in love? They want to stay together!

That's what happened a long time ago when two Russian prepositions из (from) met за (behind) and под (under). They liked each other so much that they merged into new prepositions — из-за (from behind) and из-под (from under). Let's see how they are used nowadays.

ИЗ-ЗА

Кот вытащил игрушку из-за дивана.

The cat pulled its toy from behind the sofa.

Из-за горы показалось солнце.

Sun appeared from behind a mountain.

This preposition also has another meaning – из-за can mean 'because'.