Мой друг добавляет сметану в борщ.

the friend

Breakdown of Мой друг добавляет сметану в борщ.

• мой: my
• в: to
• сметана: the sour cream

Questions & Answers about Мой друг добавляет сметану в борщ.

Why is Мой друг in that order instead of Друг мой?

Both Мой друг and Друг мой are grammatically correct and mean “my friend.” However, Мой друг is the neutral, most common word order (possessive first, noun second). Друг мой is stylistically marked or poetic, and you’d mostly see it in songs, poetry or to add emphasis.

Why is сметану in the accusative case?

Сметану is the direct object of the transitive verb добавляет (“adds”), so it takes the accusative case. The singular feminine noun сметана has the accusative form сметану.

Why is борщ also in the accusative case with в борщ?

The preposition в can govern either the accusative (movement into something) or the prepositional (location). Here, в борщ expresses motion or direction (“into the borscht”), so борщ is accusative. If you wanted to say “in the borscht” (i.e. location), you’d say в борще.

What aspect and tense is добавляет, and why?

Добавляет is imperfective aspect, present tense, third person singular. Imperfective verbs describe ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions. So Мой друг добавляет сметану can mean “My friend is adding sour cream” (right now) or “My friend adds sour cream” (as a habit).