Questions & Answers about Плащ защищает от дождя.
Why is there no article before плащ?
Russian doesn’t have articles like a or the. You simply use the noun by itself. Context tells you whether it means “a raincoat” or “the raincoat.”
What case is дождя, and why isn’t it accusative?
Дождя is in the genitive case because it follows the preposition от. In Russian, от always requires genitive when you want to say “from” or “against” something (e.g. защищать от дождя – “to protect from rain”).
Why is there no direct object indicating what is being protected?
This is a general statement about the function of a raincoat. In Russian (as in English), you can omit the specific object when it’s obvious or implied. For example, Очки защищают от солнца (“Glasses protect from the sun”) doesn’t mention what is protected, because it’s understood.
What is the aspect and tense of защищает in this sentence?
Защищает is the third person singular present tense of the imperfective verb защищать. The imperfective aspect describes a habitual or general action (“protects in general”). The perfective form защитит would mean “will protect” (one-time future action).
How do you pronounce the letter щ in ?