Ребёнок бросил мяч в бассейн.

The child threw the ball into the pool.

Breakdown of Ребёнок бросил мяч в бассейн.

• ребёнок: the child
• бросить: to throw
• мяч: the ball
• в: into
• бассейн: the pool

Questions & Answers about Ребёнок бросил мяч в бассейн.

What case is мяч in, and why does it look the same as its nominative form?

In this sentence мяч is in the accusative case because it’s the direct object of the verb бросил (“threw”). For inanimate masculine nouns like мяч, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form.

What case is бассейн here, and how would it differ if the sentence meant “in the pool” instead of “into the pool”?

Here бассейн is also in the accusative case because в + accusative expresses motion toward something (“into the pool”). If you wanted to say “in the pool” (location), you’d use в + prepositional, i.e. в бассейне.

Why is the verb бросил used instead of бросила, бросило, or бросили?

Past-tense Russian verbs agree in gender and number with the subject. Ребёнок is a masculine noun in singular, so the verb takes the masculine singular ending -л: бросил. If the subject were a girl (e.g. девочка), you’d say бросила; if plural, бросили.

What is the infinitive form of бросил, and what is the difference between бросить and бросать?

The infinitive is бросить. It’s a perfective verb, indicating a single, completed action. The imperfective counterpart is бросать, used for repeated or ongoing throws (e.g. Он часто бросает мяч – “He often throws the ball”).

How do you pronounce Ребёнок, мяч, and бассейн?

– Ребёнок: [rʲɪˈbʲonək] (rih-BYO-nuk)
– мяч: [mʲat͡ɕ] (m’yach, one syllable)
– бассейн: [bɐˈsejn] (ba-SAYN)

Why is Ребёнок spelled with ё and not е?

The letter ё always represents the sound /jo/ and is always stressed. In handwritten or printed Russian you sometimes see е instead of ё, but correct spelling with ё shows both the sound and the stress: ребёнок.

Which question word and case would you use to ask “Where did the child throw the ball?”

You’d ask “Куда ребёнок бросил мяч?” Use Куда? plus the accusative case (motion into).

Can you change the word order in this sentence for emphasis?

Yes. The neutral order is S-V-O-adverbial: Ребёнок бросил мяч в бассейн. To emphasize the ball, you could say Мяч ребёнок бросил в бассейн. To stress the destination: В бассейн ребёнок бросил мяч. The meaning stays the same, only the focus shifts.

What grammatical roles do Ребёнок, мяч, and в бассейн play in the sentence?

– Ребёнок is the subject (nominative case).
– мяч is the direct object (accusative case).
– в бассейн is an adverbial phrase of direction (в + accusative), answering куда? (“into what?”).