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Questions & Answers about Я пью воду.
What does the sentence Я пью воду. mean in English?
It means "I drink water." In this sentence, Я translates as "I", пью is the first person singular present form of the verb пить (to drink), and воду is the accusative form of вода (water).
Why does the noun вода change to воду in this sentence?
Russian nouns change their endings to show grammatical cases. Here, воду is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb пью (drinking). For feminine nouns like вода, the ending changes from -а to -у in the accusative singular.
How is the verb пью formed from the infinitive пить?
The infinitive пить means "to drink." For the first person singular in the present tense, пить conjugates irregularly to пью. This irregular form needs to be memorized, as it doesn’t follow the standard conjugation rules.
Why is the subject pronoun Я included, even though Russian often omits such pronouns?
Although Russian is a pro-drop language—meaning subject pronouns are often left out because the verb endings indicate the subject—using Я (I) here adds clarity or emphasis. It explicitly states who is performing the action.
Why are there no articles like "a" or "the" in Я пью воду.?
Russian does not have articles. In English, we use a or the to signal specificity or generality, but in Russian, context and word order provide that information without needing extra words.