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Questions & Answers about Я смотрю канал в интернете.
Why is смотреть used here and not видеть?
смотреть means “to watch” in the sense of actively looking at something (TV, video, a channel). видеть means “to see,” as in passively perceiving something with your eyes. To convey the idea of intentionally watching an online channel, Russian uses смотреть.
Why is канал in the accusative case?
In Russian, the direct object of a transitive verb goes into the accusative case. Here канал is what you are watching, so it takes the accusative form, which for masculine inanimate nouns looks identical to the nominative.
What case is интернете, and why is it used?
интернете is in the prepositional case (singular). After the preposition в indicating location, we use the prepositional case to say “in the Internet.”
Why do we say в интернете rather than на интернете?
Different languages choose different prepositions. In Russian, location inside something uses в + prepositional. Although English uses “on the Internet,” Russian convention is “в интернете.”
Why are there no articles (a/the) in Russian?
Russian does not have grammatical articles like English a or the. Definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from context or added words, not separate articles.
What aspect is смотреть here, and could we use a perfective form?
Here смотреть is imperfective, expressing an ongoing or habitual action (“I am watching” or “I watch”). If you wanted to emphasize a single completed viewing, you could use the perfective посмотреть: Я посмотрю канал в интернете (I will watch the channel online / I will have watched the channel online).
Can we replace в интернете with онлайн?
Yes. онлайн (adverb) also means “online.” You could say Я смотрю канал онлайн. The nuance is almost the same, though онлайн sounds more colloquial or tech-y.
How flexible is the word order in this sentence?
Word order in Russian is more flexible than in English. You could say Я в интернете смотрю канал or В интернете я смотрю канал to shift emphasis, but the neutral order is Subject–Verb–Object–Adverbial.
Where does the stress fall in интернете?
Stress falls on the second е: ин-тер-НЕ-те (ɪnʲtʲɪrˈnʲetʲɪ).