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Questions & Answers about Мой друг регулярно звонит мне.
Why is мой used instead of моя or моё?
Мой is a possessive pronoun that must agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number and case. Друг (“friend”) is masculine, singular, and in the nominative case (it’s the subject of the sentence), so we choose мой. If you were talking about a feminine word (e.g. подруга), you’d say моя подруга.
Why is друг in the nominative case?
In Russian, the doer of the action—the subject—is always in the nominative case. Here, друг (“friend”) is the one performing the action (calling), so it’s nominative.
Why is звонит imperfective, and why not perfective позвонит?
The imperfective verb звонить describes a repeated or habitual action (“calls regularly”). If you said позвонит, you’d switch to the perfective aspect, which usually points to a single, completed action (e.g. “will call me once”).
Why is there no он before звонит?
Russian often drops personal pronouns when the verb ending makes the subject clear. The ending -ит in звонит already tells you it’s “he/she/it.” Adding он would be grammatically correct (Он звонит мне), but it’s usually omitted unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.
Why is мне in the dative case instead of the accusative меня?
The verb звонить takes its object in the dative case, not the accusative. In English we say “call someone,” but in Russian you literally “call to someone.” Hence мне (to me), not меня.
Why is there no preposition before мне (e.g. к мне)?
Because звонить is one of those verbs that governs the dative directly. You don’t need—and in fact mustn’t use—a preposition here.
Can I move регулярно or мне to a different position?
Yes—Russian word order is fairly flexible.
- Мой друг регулярно звонит мне. (default)
- Мой друг мне регулярно звонит.
- Мой друг звонит мне регулярно.
Putting регулярно right before the verb is most neutral; moving мне before the verb can add slight emphasis to me.
How would I turn this into a question or make it negative?
For a yes/no question, you can simply use rising intonation or add a question word:
- Мой друг регулярно звонит мне? (intonation)
- Разве мой друг регулярно звонит мне? (adds surprise)
To negate, place не before the verb (or before звонит): - Мой друг не звонит мне регулярно.
You can also shift word order slightly: - Мой друг мне регулярно не звонит.
What’s the difference between регулярно, часто, and постоянно?
- Регулярно (“regularly”) implies something happens at set or agreed intervals (e.g. every week).
- Часто (“often”) focuses on high frequency but not necessarily fixed schedule.
- Постоянно (“constantly”) suggests almost uninterrupted or continuous action.
They overlap, but регулярно is your best choice when you mean “according to a routine.”