Breakdown of Моя сестра готовится к концерту.
мой
my
сестра
the sister
концерт
the concert
готовиться к
to prepare for
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Questions & Answers about Моя сестра готовится к концерту.
What does готовится mean in this sentence?
готовится is the 3rd person singular present tense of the imperfective reflexive verb готовиться, which means “to prepare oneself” or simply “to prepare.” Here it translates as “(she) is preparing.”
Why is there a -ся suffix at the end of готовится?
The suffix -ся makes the verb reflexive. In готовиться, it indicates that the subject (my sister) is doing the preparing for herself, not preparing something else. Without -ся, готовить means “to cook” or “to prepare something.”
Why is the word моя used before сестра, and why is it not мой?
Russian possessive pronouns must agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify.
- сестра is feminine, singular, nominative.
- The feminine form of “my” is моя.
Hence моя сестра = “my sister.”
Why is сестра in the nominative case?
In Russian, the nominative case marks the subject of the sentence—the person or thing performing the action. Here, моя сестра (my sister) is doing the preparing, so it stands in the nominative.
What is the function of the preposition к in к концерту, and what case does концерт take?
The verb готовиться requires the preposition к plus the dative case to express “prepare for.”
- концерт in dative singular becomes концерту.
So к концерту literally means “for (to) the concert.”
Why are there no articles like “a” or “the” in Моя сестра готовится к концерту?
Russian does not have articles. Context and word order convey definiteness or indefiniteness. Here, “моя” makes the noun definite (“my sister”), and к концерту implies preparing for a specific concert known from context.
Could I say Она готовится к концерту instead? What’s the difference?
Yes, you can. Она готовится к концерту means “She is preparing for the concert.”
- Она (“she”) is less specific than моя сестра, which identifies exactly who.
Use она when the listener already knows who “she” is.
How flexible is the word order in this sentence?
Russian word order is fairly flexible due to cases marking grammatical roles. You could say:
- К концерту готовится моя сестра. (emphasizes the concert)
- Готовится моя сестра к концерту. (neutral)
However, Моя сестра готовится к концерту is the most neutral S-V-O order.
What is the perfective counterpart of готовиться, and how would it change the meaning?
The perfective verb is подготовиться.
- Моя сестра подготовится к концерту would mean “My sister will prepare for the concert” (completed action).
Imperfective готовиться focuses on the ongoing process; perfective подготовиться focuses on the completion.