Журналист пишет статью о городе.

The journalist is writing an article about the city.

Breakdown of Журналист пишет статью о городе.

• писать: to write
• город: the city
• о: about
• статья: the article
• журналист: the journalist

Questions & Answers about Журналист пишет статью о городе.

Why is there no word like “the” or “a” before журналист or статью?

Russian simply has no articles.
Words like журналист and статью can mean “a journalist / the journalist” and “an article / the article” depending only on context.
So Журналист пишет статью can be understood as:

• “A journalist is writing an article”
• “The journalist is writing an article”

Both are possible; Russian does not mark this difference in the sentence itself.

What form and tense is пишет, and does it mean “writes” or “is writing”?

Пишет is:

• 3rd person singular (he/she/it)
• present tense
• imperfective aspect
• from the verb писать (to write)

In English it can mean both “writes” (habitual action) and “is writing” (action in progress).
Russian does not distinguish these two with different forms; context decides which English translation is better.

What is the full conjugation of писать in the present tense?

Present tense of писать (to write, imperfective):

• я пишу – I write / I am writing
• ты пишешь – you write / are writing (informal singular)
• он / она / оно пишет – he / she / it writes / is writing
• мы пишем – we write / are writing
• вы пишете – you write / are writing (formal or plural)
• они пишут – they write / are writing

In the sentence Журналист пишет статью, журналист = он (he), so the verb is пишет.

Why is it статью and not статья? What does the ending -ю mean?

Статья (article) is a feminine noun.
Its nominative singular form (dictionary form) is статья, but in this sentence it is the direct object of the verb пишет, so it must be in the accusative case.

Feminine nouns ending in -я usually change like this:

• Nominative: статья (subject)
• Accusative: статью (direct object)

So пишет статью literally means “is-writing article-ACCUSATIVE”, i.e. “is writing an article.”

Why is it о городе and not о город? What case is городе?

The preposition о (about) requires the prepositional case.
The noun город (city, town) in the prepositional singular is городе.

So:

• Nominative (dictionary form): город – city
• Prepositional: городе – (about / in) the city

In this sentence, о городе literally means “about (the) city”, and городе is in the prepositional case because of о.

How do I say “in the city” vs “about the city” in Russian?

Both meanings use the prepositional case, but with different prepositions:

• в городе – in the city
  
  • в
    • prepositional case often means in / at a place.
• о городе – about the city
  
  • о
    • prepositional case means about / concerning something.

So городе has the same case form in both, but the preposition changes the meaning.

What is the difference between о городе and про город? Can I say Журналист пишет статью про город?

Yes, Журналист пишет статью про город is possible and common in spoken Russian.

Differences:

• о городе

  • More neutral/literary.
  • Uses the prepositional case: о городе.
  • Very common in written and formal language.

• про город

  • More colloquial, conversational.
  • Uses the accusative case: про город.
  • Meaning is also “about the city”.

So:

• статью о городе – a bit more formal/neutral.
• статью про город – a bit more informal/everyday speech.

When do I use о, об, and обо?

All three mean “about”, but are chosen for ease of pronunciation:

• о – the basic form, used before most consonants:
  • о городе, о машине, о фильме.
• об – used before many words starting with a vowel or certain consonant clusters, to avoid awkward sound combinations:
  • об этом (about this), об ошибке (about a mistake), об Англии (about England).
• обо – used with a few common words:
  • обо мне (about me), обо всех (about everyone), обо всём (about everything).

With городе, you normally say о городе, not об городе or обо городе.

Can the word order change, like Статью о городе пишет журналист? Does that change the meaning?

Russian word order is flexible. All of these are grammatically correct:

• Журналист пишет статью о городе. (neutral order: subject–verb–object)
• Журналист статью о городе пишет.
• Статью о городе пишет журналист.

The basic meaning stays the same. Changing the order usually affects emphasis or what is new/important information in the sentence:

• Статью о городе пишет журналист. often highlights “it is the journalist who is writing the article about the city” (maybe in contrast to someone else).

How do I know the gender of журналист, and does it affect пишет?

Журналист ends in a consonant, so by default it is masculine.
The feminine form “female journalist” is журналистка.

In the present tense, the verb пишет is the same for he and she:

• Он пишет статью. – He is writing an article.
• Она пишет статью. – She is writing an article.

So gender does not change the verb form in the present.
It does matter in the past tense:

• Журналист писал статью. – (male) journalist was writing / wrote an article.
• Журналистка писала статью. – (female) journalist was writing / wrote an article.

How would I say this sentence in the plural: “Journalists are writing an article / articles about the city”?

First, make the subject plural and adjust the verb:

• журналист → журналисты (journalists)
• пишет → пишут (they write / are writing)

Then choose singular or plural for статья, depending on what you mean:

1. Журналисты пишут статью о городе.

   • Literally: “Journalists are writing an article about the city.”
   • Implies they are working together on one article.

2. Журналисты пишут статьи о городе.

   • Literally: “Journalists are writing articles about the city.”
   • Implies several articles (each writes their own, or many in general).