Мы празднуем рождение ребёнка.

we

Breakdown of Мы празднуем рождение ребёнка.

• ребёнок: the child
• праздновать: to celebrate
• рождение: the birth

Questions & Answers about Мы празднуем рождение ребёнка.

What does the verb празднуем express here—“celebrate” or “are celebrating”? What’s its aspect?

Празднуем is present tense, imperfective of праздновать. In Russian the same form covers both simple present and present continuous, so it can mean either “we celebrate” (habitually) or “we are celebrating” (right now). The aspect is imperfective (ongoing/process).

Why is рождение in that form? Which case is it?

It’s in the accusative singular, because праздновать takes a direct object: праздновать что? — рождение. Since рождение is a neuter, inanimate noun, its accusative is identical to its nominative.

Why is ребёнка in the genitive?

Because the noun рождение (birth) governs the genitive for what is being born: рождение кого/чего? — ребёнка (“birth of a child”). The genitive expresses “of” in Russian.

Could I say something like “рождение ребёнок” or use a preposition for “of”?

No. Russian normally expresses “of” with the genitive case, not with a separate preposition. So it must be рождение ребёнка. If you want to specify whose child, add a possessive in the genitive: рождение нашего ребёнка (“our child’s birth”).

How do you conjugate праздновать in the present? Any useful related forms?