Word
Публика внимательно слушает музыканта.
Meaning
The audience is listening to the musician attentively.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Публика внимательно слушает музыканта.
слушать
to listen
музыкант
the musician
внимательно
attentively
публика
the audience
Questions & Answers about Публика внимательно слушает музыканта.
Why is слушает in the singular if публика refers to many people?
In Russian, verbs agree with the grammatical number of the subject, not with its logical number.
- Публика is grammatically singular feminine, so the verb must also be singular: публика слушает.
- Even though публика refers to a group of people (the audience), it behaves like a singular noun, similar to the audience listens in English (not the audience listen in standard English).
Using a plural verb (публика слушают) is generally considered non‑standard or very colloquial; публика слушает is the normal, correct form.
Why is it музыканта and not музыкант?