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Questions & Answers about Сейчас я делаю домашнее задание.
What does Сейчас mean and why is it placed at the start of the sentence?
Сейчас is an adverb meaning “now.” Russian word order is quite flexible. By putting Сейчас at the beginning, you emphasize the timing of the action. You could also say Я сейчас делаю домашнее задание or Домашнее задание я делаю сейчас, but each order shifts the focus slightly (on “I,” on “homework,” or on “now”).
Why is the verb делаю in the imperfective aspect instead of a perfective like сделаю?
Russian verbs come in two aspects:
- Imperfective (e.g. делать/делаю) for ongoing, repeated, or uncompleted actions.
- Perfective (e.g. сделать/сделаю) for single, completed actions.
Since you’re describing an action in progress (“I’m doing my homework right now”), you use imperfective делаю. If you wanted to say “I will finish my homework,” you’d use the perfective сделаю.
Why is the pronoun я included even though the verb ending already shows the subject?
In Russian, personal pronouns (я, ты, он/она, etc.) are optional because the verb ending already indicates the subject. You include я here for clarity or emphasis (“I am the one doing it”). In casual speech you could omit it: Сейчас делаю домашнее задание, and listeners will still know you mean “I.”
What case is домашнее задание in, and how do you know?
Домашнее задание is in the accusative case because it’s the direct object of the verb делаю. For neuter, inanimate nouns like задание, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form, so домашнее задание stays the same.
How do the adjective домашнее and the noun задание agree with each other?
Adjectives in Russian must match their nouns in gender, number, and case. Here:
- Gender: neuter
- Number: singular
- Case: accusative (identical to nominative for neuter inanimate)
Thus both are in neuter singular accusative: домашнее задание.
Why are there no words for “the” or “a” before домашнее задание?
Russian doesn’t have articles like English “a,” “an,” or “the.” Definite or indefinite meaning is deduced from context, word order, or additional words (e.g., this, that, my).
How do you express the English continuous tenses (I am doing) in Russian?
Russian does not distinguish between simple present (“I do”) and present continuous (“I am doing”). Both are expressed with the present tense of an imperfective verb form (here, делаю). Context tells you if it’s a habitual action or something happening right now.
Can I change the word order in this sentence?
Yes. Russian is an inflected, relatively free‐word‐order language. You can say:
- Я сейчас делаю домашнее задание (neutral order)
- Домашнее задание я делаю сейчас (emphasizes “homework”)
- Сейчас я делаю домашнее задание (emphasizes “now”)
Where are the stresses in домашнее and задание, and how are they pronounced?
Stresses fall on the second syllable of each word:
- домашнее [dɐˈmaʂnʲɪjə] (do-MÁSH-ne-ye)
- задание [zəˈdanʲɪje] (za-DA-ni-ye)
Correct stress helps you sound natural and be understood.