Гончар готовит глину.

Because глину is the accusative singular form of глина.

• глина = nominative singular, the basic dictionary form
• глину = accusative singular, used here because it is the direct object of готовит

The verb готовит is doing something to the clay, so Russian marks that with the accusative:

• Глина мягкая. = The clay is soft.
• Гончар готовит глину. = The potter prepares the clay.

For many feminine nouns ending in -а, the accusative singular changes -а to -у.

Готовит is the 3rd person singular present-tense form of готовить.

That means it can translate as:

• prepares
• is preparing
• sometimes does prepare, depending on context

So:

• я готовлю = I prepare / am preparing
• ты готовишь = you prepare / are preparing
• он / она готовит = he/she prepares / is preparing

In this sentence, готовит agrees with the singular subject гончар.

Russian does not have articles like English a, an, or the.

So Гончар can mean:

• a potter
• the potter

And глину can mean:

• clay
• the clay

Context tells you which one is meant. This is very normal in Russian.

You know from both meaning and case.

Here, гончар is in the nominative singular, which is the usual case for the subject of the sentence.

Meanwhile, глину is in the accusative singular, which marks it as the direct object.

So the structure is:

• Гончар = subject
• готовит = verb
• глину = object

Even though Russian word order can vary, the case endings help show who is doing what.

Yes. Готовить often means to prepare, and in many contexts it can also mean to cook.

For example:

• готовить ужин = to cook dinner
• готовить документы = to prepare documents
• готовить глину = to prepare clay

So in this sentence, it does not mean the potter is cooking clay. It means the potter is getting the clay ready for use.

Готовить is imperfective.

That usually suggests:

• an ongoing process
• a repeated action
• a general activity

So Гончар готовит глину can mean:

• the potter is preparing the clay
• the potter prepares clay as part of his work

If you wanted a perfective idea, meaning the action is completed, Russian would normally use a different verb, often something like подготовить in the sense of prepare fully / get ready.

Aspect is important because Russian uses it constantly to show whether an action is viewed as a process or as a completed whole.

The stress is:

• гончАр
• готОвит
• глИну

So the sentence is pronounced approximately:

• ganchAR gaTOvit GLEE-nu

A few notes:

• Unstressed о often sounds more like a in normal speech.
• The stressed syllable is very important in Russian, because wrong stress can make your speech sound unnatural or even confusing.

No. Гончар готовит глину is the most neutral word order: subject + verb + object.

But Russian can change the order for emphasis or style, for example:

• Глину готовит гончар.
• Готовит глину гончар.

These still basically mean the same thing because the case endings show the roles of the nouns. However, the emphasis changes:

• starting with глину highlights the clay
• starting with готовит highlights the action

For a beginner, it is safest to learn the neutral order first: subject + verb + object.

Because Russian often does not need a separate pronoun when the subject is already clear.

Here, the noun гончар already tells you who is doing the action, so adding он would usually be unnecessary.

Russian commonly says:

• Мастер работает. = The craftsman is working.
• Гончар готовит глину. = The potter is preparing clay.

English often needs a pronoun, but Russian often does not.

The plural would be:

Гончары готовят глину.

Changes:

• гончар → гончары = potter → potters
• готовит → готовят = prepares → prepare

But глину stays the same here because it is still singular accusative: the clay or clay.

Глина is inanimate, and yes, that matters in Russian grammar.

In the accusative case:

• inanimate nouns often look like the nominative
• animate nouns often behave differently, especially in the masculine plural and masculine singular

For this particular noun, the important thing is that it is a regular feminine inanimate noun:

• nominative: глина
• accusative: глину

So the form change here comes from the normal feminine accusative pattern, not from animacy. But learning whether a noun is animate or inanimate is still important in Russian overall.