Breakdown of Я стираю одежду в стиральной машине и иногда пылесошу ковёр.
я
I
в
in
и
and
ковёр
the carpet
иногда
sometimes
одежда
the clothes
стирать
to wash
стиральная машина
the washing machine
пылесосить
to vacuum
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Questions & Answers about Я стираю одежду в стиральной машине и иногда пылесошу ковёр.
Why is одежду in the accusative case?
It’s the direct object of стираю (“I wash”), so it takes the accusative. Feminine singular nouns ending in -а change -а → -у in the accusative: одежда → одежду.
What case is ковёр in, and why isn’t there a preposition before it?
Ковёр is also a direct object of пылесошу (“I vacuum”), so it’s in the accusative. Masculine inanimate nouns ending in a consonant keep the same form: ковёр (Nom.) → ковёр (Acc.). No preposition is needed for a direct object.
Why do we use в стиральной машине instead of на стиральной машине?
Because you wash clothes inside the machine. Russian uses в + prepositional case for location “in.” If you used на, it would suggest “on top of” the machine. Here стиральной машине is prepositional: машина → машине.
Why are both стираю and пылесошу in the present tense (imperfective)?
In Russian, imperfective verbs describe ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions. Since the sentence expresses routine tasks (“I wash … and sometimes vacuum …”), imperfective forms (стираю, пылесошу) are used.
What’s the difference between стираю and постираю?
Стираю is imperfective (“I am washing/I wash habitually”), while постираю is perfective (“I will wash to completion”). Use the perfective if you want to emphasize a single completed action or its result.
How do you pronounce пылесошу, and where is the stress?
The stress falls on the last syllable: пылесошу́. Phonetically: [pɨlʲɪsɐˈʂu].
Why is the letter ё used in ковёр, and can it ever be written as ковер?
The letter ё always indicates the sound “yo” and carries the stress. In handwriting or dictionaries it’s always ё, but in everyday print Russians often replace ё with е (kovер) while still pronouncing it [kovjór]. For learners, it’s best to write and remember ё.
What part of speech is иногда, and where can it go in a sentence?
Иногда is an adverb of frequency (“sometimes”). It commonly appears before the verb (иногда пылесошу) but can also start or end a sentence:
– Иногда я пылесошу ковёр.
– Я пылесошу ковёр иногда.
Why can you drop the pronoun Я and just say Стираю одежду…?
Russian verb endings already encode person and number. Стираю unambiguously means “I wash,” so the pronoun Я is optional and often omitted in casual speech.