I would like to know if the parts of the word (pre- and suffixes) can help to explain it, I have nothing to help me make the word stick in my memory

I would like to know if the parts of the word (pre- and suffixes) can help to explain it, I have nothing to help me make the word stick in my memory.

Normally, the context can help to remember. Where did you find this word? Repeat the sentence several times. Then you will remember not the single word, but a few words together. You can also try to find a mnemonic aid: is there anything in the sound of the word that can help you? If I am right, the meaning of the word can be something like “were found” or “became evident”. In that case the beginning of the word, обн, makes me think of “open”, which can help you to remember. This kind of mnemonic aids are often far-fetched but the main thing is that they help!

I think that in Russian like in other languages the root of the word can help you to understand the word much more than the prefixes and suffuxes.
In this case “обнаружилось” the root is- “наружу”, the suffix “л” shows that this verb is in the past, and the prefix “об” has no special meaning, it’s only an elemment of the word forming.
обнаружилось = вышло наружу = стало известным, it’s close to the English verb ‘to turn out’.

1 Like