Questions & Answers about Она читает актёрский журнал.
Russian does not have articles like English a/an or the.
The noun phrase актёрский журнал can mean an acting magazine, the acting magazine, or simply acting magazines in a general sense, depending on context.
You usually just leave articles out in Russian and let the situation, previous sentences, or intonation show whether something is specific or general.
The form читает is present tense, imperfective aspect. It covers both English meanings:
- Она читает актёрский журнал. = She reads an acting magazine. (regular action)
- Она читает актёрский журнал. = She is reading an acting magazine. (right now)
Russian does not have a separate continuous tense like is reading; context (or words like сейчас – now, часто – often) tells you which English meaning fits.
Читать is an infinitive ending in -ать (first conjugation).
To conjugate it, remove -ть and add the present-tense endings:
- я читаю – I read / am reading
- ты читаешь – you (sg., informal) read / are reading
- он / она читает – he / she reads / is reading
- мы читаем – we read / are reading
- вы читаете – you (pl. or formal) read / are reading
- они читают – they read / are reading
In the sentence Она читает актёрский журнал, она (she) takes читает (3rd person singular).
Grammatically, журнал is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of читает.
However, журнал is a masculine, inanimate noun, and in the singular its accusative form is identical to the nominative:
- Nominative (dictionary form): журнал
- Accusative: журнал
So even though the form is the same, its function in the sentence is object, not subject.
Актёрский is an adjective formed from the noun актёр (actor).
The suffix -ский usually makes a relational adjective: “related to / associated with X.”
So актёрский журнал is literally “actor-ish magazine,” more naturally a magazine for actors / about acting / about actors.
Grammatically, актёрский is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative/accusative
It agrees with журнал in gender, number, and case.
Yes, Russian word order is more flexible than English, but it affects focus and emphasis:
- Она читает актёрский журнал. – neutral: She reads / is reading an acting magazine.
- Она актёрский журнал читает. – emphasis on what she reads (as opposed to something else).
- Актёрский журнал она читает. – strong emphasis on актёрский журнал: It is an acting magazine that she reads (maybe not other kinds of magazines).
The basic, default order is Subject – Verb – Object, which is what you see in the original sentence.
Читать is imperfective: it focuses on the process or repeated action.
Прочитать is perfective: it focuses on the completed result.
- Она читает актёрский журнал. – She is in the process of reading / she reads it in general.
- Она прочитала актёрский журнал. – She finished reading the acting magazine.
- Она прочитает актёрский журнал. – She will read (and finish) the acting magazine.
You generally cannot use present tense of a perfective verb for “is doing now”; its present forms usually refer to the future.
Stressed vowels (marked with an accent for learners) and approximate IPA:
- она́ – [ɐˈna] (stress on the second syllable)
- чита́ет – [t͡ɕɪˈta(j)ɪt] (stress on та́)
- актёрский – [ɐkˈtʲɵrskʲɪj] (stress on тёр)
- журна́л – [ʐʊrˈnal] (stress on на́)
Whole sentence: Она́ чита́ет актёрский журна́л.
Every stressed syllable should be clear and strong; unstressed о is pronounced more like [ɐ]/[ʌ], not a full “oh.”
The letter ё in Russian always represents a stressed [jo] sound (here, actually [ʲɵ] after a soft consonant), and it always carries the stress.
In everyday texts, Russians often write е instead of ё, so you will often see актерский in print.
However:
- Pronunciation stays as if it had ё: актёрский.
- In dictionaries, textbooks, and for learners, ё is usually written to show correct stress and pronunciation.
So актёрский and актерский are the same word; the spelling with ё is just clearer.
Both are types of periodicals, but:
- журнал – a magazine: usually weekly or monthly, on specific topics, often on glossy paper, longer articles, more photos.
- газета – a newspaper: more frequent (daily/weekly), news-focused, usually on thin newsprint, shorter news items.
So актёрский журнал is a magazine about actors or acting, not a newspaper.
Russian pronouns must agree with the natural or grammatical gender of the person or thing:
- он – he / it (masculine)
- она – she / it (feminine)
- оно – it (neuter)
In this sentence, the person doing the reading is female, so you use она.
The verb form читает is the same for он, она, and оно, so only the pronoun tells you the subject’s gender.