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Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.

Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.
A tidy student writes down all the teacher’s explanations in a diary.

Breakdown of Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.

в
in
учитель
the teacher
студент
the student
все
all
объяснение
the explanation
аккуратный
tidy
записывать
to write down
дневник
the diary
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Questions & Answers about Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.

In this sentence, what exactly does Аккуратный mean? Does it mean “accurate”?

Here аккуратный describes the student’s character and habits, not the factual accuracy of his notes.

Common meanings of аккуратный:

  • neat, tidy (keeps things in order, writes neatly)
  • careful, conscientious (does tasks thoroughly, pays attention)

So аккуратный студент is more like:

  • “a neat / careful / conscientious student”

If you want “accurate” in the sense of “factually correct,” Russian more often uses words like точный or правильный, depending on context.

Why is студент in this form? How do I know it’s the subject?

Студент is in the nominative singular (basic dictionary form). In Russian, the subject of a verb is normally in the nominative case.

In this sentence:

  • Аккуратный студент = nominative (who? what?) → the subject
  • записывает = the verb, 3rd person singular
  • The verb ending -ет matches a 3rd person singular subject → он (студент) записывает.

So the form студент tells you it is the “doer” of the action.

Why is the verb записывает used here instead of пишет?

Both verbs involve writing, but they focus on different things:

  • писать = “to write” in general
    • Он пишет письмо. – He is writing a letter.
  • записывать = “to write down, to note down, to record (information)”
    • Он записывает адрес. – He is writing down the address.

In the sentence, the student is not just writing randomly; he is recording / taking down the teacher’s explanations. That is exactly the meaning of записывать.

What is the aspect of записывает, and how would the perfective form change the meaning?

Записывает is imperfective aspect (несовершенный вид).

  • Он записывает все объяснения учителя.
    – He writes down all the teacher’s explanations.
    Meaning: a process, a regular/habitual action, or something going on now.

The perfective counterpart is записать → Он запишет / он записал.

  • Он записал все объяснения учителя.
    – He wrote down all the teacher’s explanations.
    Meaning: the action is presented as completed, with the result achieved.

So:

  • Imperfective записывает → focuses on the activity/habit.
  • Perfective записал → focuses on the completed result.
Why is it все объяснения, and what case is объяснения in?

Объяснение is a neuter noun:

  • singular nominative: объяснение
  • plural nominative: объяснения

In the sentence:

  • все = “all” → agrees in number and gender with the noun
  • объяснения is plural accusative (direct object: writes down what?)

For inanimate neuter nouns, the accusative plural form is the same as the nominative plural:

  • nom. pl.: объяснения
  • acc. pl.: объяснения

So все объяснения = “all the explanations,” functioning as the direct object of записывает.

Why is учителя in this form? What case is it and why?

Учитель (“teacher”) is a masculine noun with this pattern:

  • nominative sg.: учитель
  • genitive sg.: учителя

In объяснения учителя, учителя is genitive singular.

This is a common pattern for “of X” relationships:

  • объяснения кого? – учителя
    “the explanations of whom? – of the teacher”

So:

  • объяснения учителя = “the teacher’s explanations” / “explanations of the teacher”
  • The explanations are the direct object; the teacher is just the possessor/source, so it goes into the genitive.
Why is it в дневник and not в дневнике? What’s the difference?

The preposition в can take:

  • accusative for direction / into
  • prepositional for location / in

Compare:

  • в дневник (accusative) – into the diary / notebook (movement/direction)
  • в дневнике (prepositional) – in the diary / notebook (location)

Here you have an action that puts something into the diary:

  • записывает (что?) в (что?) дневник
    “writes [it] into the diary”

If you said:

  • Объяснения учителя находятся в дневнике.
    “The teacher’s explanations are in the diary.”
    then в дневнике (prepositional) would be correct, because it describes a location, not movement into it.
What exactly does дневник mean here? Is it like a personal diary?

Дневник can mean a few related things:

  1. School context (very common in Russia):
    • A school diary / homework book / grade book where students write homework, notes, see marks from the teacher, etc.
  2. Personal diary / journal:
    • Like an everyday diary where you write your thoughts.

In a typical educational context, записывать объяснения учителя в дневник suggests:

  • He writes the teacher’s explanations into his school diary / notebook (a kind of organized notebook used for school tasks).

Depending on context, it could also be a personal study diary, but the school-related meaning is very common.

Why doesn’t the sentence say “his diary”? Why is there no его or свой before дневник?

Russian often omits possessive pronouns when the owner is obvious from context, especially with body parts, clothes, and personal items like notebooks.

Here:

  • Subject: студент
  • Object: дневник

It is naturally understood that the diary belongs to the student, so его дневник or свой дневник is usually unnecessary.

You can say:

  • Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в свой дневник.

This is grammatically correct and emphasizes more clearly that it’s specifically his own diary, but in most neutral contexts it sounds a bit heavier and is not needed for understanding.

How do the adjective and noun agree in аккуратный студент?

Adjectives in Russian must agree with the nouns they describe in:

  • gender
  • number
  • case

Here:

  • студент – masculine, singular, nominative
  • The adjective must also be masculine, singular, nominative → аккуратный

Patterns:

  • masc. nom. sg.: -ый / -ий → аккуратный студент
  • fem. nom. sg.: -ая / -яя → аккуратная студентка
  • neuter nom. sg.: -ое / -ее → аккуратное письмо

So аккуратный студент is the correctly agreeing form.

Can I change the word order? For example: Студент аккуратный записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, but changes in order affect emphasis and style.

The neutral, most natural version here is:

  • Аккуратный студент записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.

Possible, but with different nuance:

  • Студент аккуратный записывает все объяснения учителя в дневник.
    Sounds as if you first identify him as “this student,” and then add the characteristic “(he is) neat.” It can sound a bit more conversational or slightly marked.

You can also move other parts:

  • Аккуратный студент в дневник записывает все объяснения учителя.
    Extra emphasis on в дневник (as opposed to somewhere else).

All these are grammatically possible; the original word order is the most neutral and textbook-like.

What time reference does записывает express? Is it “is writing” (now) or “writes” (in general)?

Russian present tense imperfective can cover both:

  1. Right now / ongoing process:
    • “The neat student is (right now) writing down all the teacher’s explanations into the diary.”
  2. Habitual / repeated action:
    • “The neat student (always / usually) writes down all the teacher’s explanations into the diary.”

Context or additional adverbs (e.g. всегда, обычно, сейчас) would clarify which is meant. The bare sentence allows both readings.