Questions & Answers about Я пишу сообщение другу.
Because Russian uses cases to show grammatical roles. другу is in the dative case to mark the indirect object (“to whom” the message is written). друг (friend) is declined:
- nom друг
- gen друга
- dat другу
- acc друга
- inst другом
- prep друге
Use the dative for recipients, like “to someone.”
The infinitive is писать (imperfective). Imperfective verbs denote ongoing or habitual actions. Conjugation in the present tense:
я пишу
ты пишешь
он/она пишет
мы пишем
вы пишете
они пишут
писать is imperfective (focus on the process), написать is perfective (focus on completion).
Use писать to say “I am writing” or habitual “I write,” and написать to say “I will write” or “I have written.”
Russian word order is flexible due to cases. The neutral (unmarked) order is Subject – Verb – Direct Object – Indirect Object: Я пишу сообщение другу. You can rearrange for emphasis:
Я другу пишу сообщение (emphasizes “to my friend”)
Сообщение другу я пишу (emphasizes what is being written).