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Questions & Answers about Мама моет посуду в раковине.
What is the base verb of моет and what form is it here?
Моет comes from the infinitive мыть (to wash). Here it is the third person singular present tense form in the imperfective aspect, so it literally means “she washes” or “is washing.”
Why is посуда in the accusative case посуду, and what does that case indicate?
As the direct object of моет, посуда (dishes) takes the accusative case—посуду. For feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular ends in -у. This case marks the thing being washed.
What case is used in в раковине, and why is раковина in that case?
After the preposition в when indicating location (“where?”), Russian uses the prepositional case. The noun раковина (sink) changes to раковине to signal “in the sink.”
What does раковина mean in English?
Раковина means “sink” or “washbasin,” the fixture in the kitchen or bathroom used for washing.
Russian doesn’t have articles. How do we tell if посуду is “the dishes” or “some dishes”?
Russian omits articles, relying on context, word order, and case endings. Here, the imperfective verb and everyday context suggest a general or habitual action—“Mom is washing the dishes.” Definiteness is inferred rather than marked by a word like “the.”
Can I use a perfective form instead of моет, for example вымыть?
Perfective verbs (like вымыть) don’t have a true present tense in Russian. To express completion, you’d use the future tense: Мама вымоет посуду (“Mom will wash the dishes” with emphasis on finishing the task).
What happens if I change the word order to В раковине мама моет посуду? Does the meaning change?
The basic meaning stays the same. Fronting в раковине simply shifts emphasis onto the location (“It’s in the sink that Mom is washing the dishes”), showcasing Russian’s relatively free word order.