Breakdown of Учитель проверяет домашнее задание.
учитель
the teacher
проверять
to check
домашнее задание
the homework
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Questions & Answers about Учитель проверяет домашнее задание.
Why is there no article before Учитель?
Russian does not have definite or indefinite articles like the or a. The noun учитель can mean either a teacher or the teacher depending on context.
What is the gender and number of учитель, and how can you tell?
Учитель is a masculine singular noun. In Russian, nouns ending in a consonant (and some ending in a soft sign, like -ль) are typically masculine. It’s in the nominative case here because it’s the grammatical subject.
What case is домашнее задание in, and why?
It’s in the accusative case as the direct object of the verb. Neuter singular nouns have identical forms in nominative and accusative, so домашнее задание looks the same as its base form.
Why does домашнее end with -ее instead of -ое?
The adjective домашний must agree with the neuter noun задание. In neuter singular (nominative/accusative), first-declension adjectives take -ее, so домашнее is the correct form.
What is the aspect of the verb проверяет, perfective or imperfective, and what does that imply?
Проверяет is the present tense of the imperfective verb проверять. Imperfective verbs describe ongoing or habitual actions (“is checking”/“checks regularly”). The perfective counterpart проверить would denote a single, completed action (“will check” or “checked”).
Why does the verb end with -ет?
The ending -ет marks the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) in the present tense for first-conjugation verbs like проверять. Since учитель corresponds to “he,” we use проверя-ет.
Where is the stress in проверяет, and how do you pronounce it?
The stress falls on the -я-: про-вер-Я́-ет (pro-ver-YA-et).
How do you ask “What is the teacher doing?” and “What is the teacher checking?”
• Что делает учитель? – “What is the teacher doing?” (uses делает from делать, “to do”)
• Что проверяет учитель? – “What is the teacher checking?”
Both keep учитель in nominative and the question word что in accusative.
How would you form the past tense of this sentence?
For a male teacher: Учитель проверил домашнее задание.
For a female teacher (often учительница): Учительница проверила домашнее задание.
You change the verb ending: -л for masculine, -ла for feminine.
How would you say “My teacher checks my homework”?
Use matching possessives:
Мой учитель проверяет моё домашнее задание.
- мой учитель – “my teacher” (masculine nominative)
- моё домашнее задание – “my homework” (neuter accusative)
How do you say “The teacher will check the homework” in Russian?
• Imperfective future (ongoing): Учитель будет проверять домашнее задание. (“will be checking”)
• Perfective future (one-time): Учитель проверит домашнее задание. (“will check” with completion)