Question 1

Why is собака in the nominative case?

Accepted Answer

Because собака is the subject of the sentence (“the one doing the action”). In Russian, subjects are in the nominative case.

Question 2

Why is дом in the accusative case and why is there no preposition before it?

Accepted Answer

Дом is the direct object (what is being protected), so it takes the accusative case. In Russian, most transitive verbs (like защищает) govern a bare accusative for inanimate things—no preposition is needed.

Question 3

Why doesn’t Russian use an article (like “a” or “the”) before собака or дом?

Accepted Answer

Russian simply has no articles. Definiteness or indefiniteness is implied by context, word order, or other words, not by separate “a”/“the” words.

Question 4

Why do we use свой here instead of ее or его?

Accepted Answer

Свой is a reflexive possessive pronoun that refers back to the subject of the clause. Since the dog (subject) owns the house (object), you use свой to mean “its own.” If you used ее or его, it would mean “someone else’s” (e.g. “her” or “his,” referring to a different person).  
Also, свой must agree with дом in gender (masculine), number (singular) and case (accusative), so it appears as свой here.

Question 5

What is the aspect and grammatical form of защищает, and what would its perfective counterpart be?

Accepted Answer

Защищает is the third person singular, present tense form of the imperfective verb защищать. Imperfective verbs describe ongoing, habitual or repeated actions (“protects,” “is protecting”). The perfective counterpart is защитить, which in future tense would be он защитит (“he will protect” once, completed action).

Question 6

How do you pronounce Собака защищает свой дом, and where are the stresses?

Accepted Answer

Place the stress on the second syllable of собака and on the third of защищает. In Russian orthography with accents:  
Со́бака защища́ет свой дом.  
Approximate English‐style transcription: [sǝ-BAH-kuh za-shee-SHAI-et svoy doh(m)].

Question 7

Can the word order change? For example, what about Свой дом защищает собака?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Russian is relatively free with word order.  
– Собака защищает свой дом. (neutral, emphasis on the dog or the action)  
– Свой дом защищает собака. (emphasis on “its own house”; you’re highlighting the house more than the dog)  
Each order shifts the focus or nuance but the basic meaning remains.

Question 8

What’s the difference between защищать and охранять in Russian?

Accepted Answer

Although both can translate as “to protect” or “to guard,” there is a nuance:  
- Защищать usually means to defend actively against a threat or attack.  
- Охранять implies keeping watch, guarding, or patrolling—more like a security guard’s routine duty.  
So собака защищает свой дом stresses defense in case of danger, while собака охраняет свой дом would stress that the dog is on guard duty.

Собака защищает свой дом.

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