Мой друг живёт в небольшом доме.

My friend lives in a small house.

Breakdown of Мой друг живёт в небольшом доме.

• друг: the friend
• дом: the house
• мой: my
• в: in
• небольшой: small
• жить: to live

Questions & Answers about Мой друг живёт в небольшом доме.

What does Мой mean and why is it used in this sentence?

Мой means "my" in English. It is the masculine singular form of the possessive pronoun in Russian and is used here because друг (friend) is a masculine noun. The pronoun must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies.

What is the form and meaning of живёт in this sentence?

Живёт is the third person singular present tense form of the verb жить, which means "to live." Therefore, живёт translates as "lives." The stress falls on the second syllable (pronounced roughly as zhi-VYOT) and reflects the subject’s action in the present.

Why is the phrase в небольшом доме in the prepositional case?

In Russian, when indicating location with the preposition в (meaning "in") and a static verb like жить, the noun and its accompanying adjective must be in the prepositional case. In this sentence, дом (house) becomes доме in the prepositional case, and the adjective небольшой changes to небольшом to agree in case, gender, and number with дом.

What is the difference between небольшой and маленький when describing something like a house?

Although both adjectives can be translated as "small" in English, they imply different nuances. Небольшой generally means "not large" or "modest in size," suggesting a moderate scale without extreme smallness. In contrast, маленький usually conveys that something is very small or diminutive. In the context of a house, небольшом implies it is modest in size rather than unusually tiny.

How would this sentence change if you were referring to a female friend instead of a male one?

If the sentence referred to a female friend, you would change the possessive pronoun and the noun accordingly. For instance, you could say "Моя подруга живёт в небольшом доме." Here, Моя is the feminine singular possessive pronoun matching подруга (the feminine word for friend), while the rest of the sentence remains the same.