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Questions & Answers about Солнце греет дом.
What is the role of Солнце in the sentence, and why is it capitalized?
Солнце is the subject of the sentence—it performs the action of warming. It is capitalized because in Russian, names of unique celestial bodies like the sun are typically written with an initial capital letter, much like proper nouns in English.
Why is the verb греет in this particular form?
Греет is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb греть (to warm). Since Солнце is singular, the verb form agrees with its subject and indicates that the action is happening in the present.
What case is дом in, and how can I tell?
Дом is in the accusative case because it is the direct object—the entity being warmed. For masculine inanimate nouns in Russian, the accusative form is identical to the nominative, so while the form does not change, its role in the sentence is determined by its position following the verb.
Why is no article used before дом, unlike in English?
Russian does not have articles equivalent to the English the or a/an. The meaning (whether the house is definite or indefinite) is inferred from context rather than from a specific article, so дом simply means "house" or "the house" depending on the situation.
Does the word order in Солнце греет дом correspond to typical Russian sentence structure?
Yes, this sentence follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) structure, which is common in both Russian and English. However, Russian is flexible with word order, often allowing rearrangements to emphasize different parts of the sentence, though the standard order here is similar to English.
How should I understand the meaning of Солнце греет дом in comparison to its English translation?
The sentence directly translates to "The sun warms the house." Because Russian does not use articles, learners must rely on context to decide if it means a specific house or houses in general. Additionally, the present tense in греет tells us that it is describing a general, habitual action—much like saying that it is always true that the sun provides warmth.