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Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.

Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.
An absent-minded student, however, often loses his notebook and forgets the homework.

Breakdown of Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.

и
and
часто
often
задание
the assignment
студент
the student
домашний
home
забывать
to forget
тетрадь
the notebook
терять
to lose
же
however
рассеянный
absent-minded
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Questions & Answers about Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.

What does the particle же do in this sentence? Does it translate to “but” or “and”?

The particle же is hard to translate directly; it adds nuance rather than core meaning.

In Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь…, же can:

  • Emphasize that this particular student is like that:
    “This absent‑minded student, you know, often loses his notebook…”
  • Slightly contrast him with some implied norm or other students:
    “The absent‑minded student, on the other hand, often loses his notebook…”

Depending on context, же can feel like:

  • “you know”, “as you know”
  • “after all”
  • “but / whereas” (weak contrast)

It doesn’t mean “and”. It’s more like a small emotional or discourse marker: it ties the sentence to what was said or assumed before.

Can I just remove же and say Рассеянный студент часто теряет тетрадь…? What changes?

Yes, you can remove же. The sentence:

  • Рассеянный студент часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.

is perfectly correct.

The difference:

  • Without же: a neutral, factual description.
    “The absent‑minded student often loses his notebook and forgets his homework.”
  • With же: adds a hint of attitude/context, e.g. “That absent‑minded student (as we know) often loses…”, or “This particular student, unlike others, often loses…”

So же is optional; it changes the tone, not the basic meaning.

Why is it рассеянный студент and not студент рассеянный? Is there a difference?

Both are grammatically possible, but they are used differently.

  • рассеянный студент – “an absent‑minded student”
    Here рассеянный is an ordinary attributive adjective before the noun, neutral and normal.

  • студент рассеянный – sounds more like:

    • a descriptive or contrastive statement in context: “the student is absent‑minded”
    • or poetic/emotional/stylistically marked word order.

Examples:

  • Это рассеянный студент. – “He is an absent‑minded student.” (neutral)
  • Этот студент рассеянный. – “This student is (the one who is) absent‑minded.” (stressing he is the absent‑minded one)

In your sentence, you’re just naming the type of student, so рассеянный студент is the natural form.

Why is рассеянный in the masculine form? What if the student is female?

Студент is grammatically masculine, so the adjective must agree in gender, number, and case:

  • masculine singular nominative: рассеянный студент

For a female student, you usually change the noun as well:

  • рассеянная студентка – “an absent‑minded (female) student”

Agreement examples:

  • рассеянный студент (m.sg.)
  • рассеянная студентка (f.sg.)
  • рассеянные студенты (pl., any mix of genders)
Why are the verbs теряет and забывает in the present tense? Does this mean “is losing / is forgetting” or “often loses / often forgets”?

In Russian, the present tense of imperfective verbs is used for:

  • actions happening now
  • habitual or repeated actions

Here:

  • теряет (from терять) – imperfective present
  • забывает (from забывать) – imperfective present

With часто (“often”), this clearly describes a habit:

  • часто теряет – “often loses”
  • забывает – “(often) forgets”

So it corresponds to English simple present for habits:

  • “The absent‑minded student often loses his notebook and forgets his homework.”
What would be the difference if we said потерял тетрадь or забыл домашнее задание instead of теряет / забывает?

That would change from a habitual description to a single, completed event.

  • теряет тетрадь – “(he) often loses his notebook” / “(he) loses his notebook” (habit)

  • потерял тетрадь – “(he) lost his notebook (once, at some point)”

  • забывает домашнее задание – “(he) forgets his homework (habitually)”
  • забыл домашнее задание – “(he) forgot his homework (this time)”

Grammar:

  • терять / забывать – imperfective (process, repeated, habitual)
  • потерять / забыть – perfective (one completed action, result)
Can часто go in another position, like Студент часто же теряет тетрадь or Студент теряет часто тетрадь?

Some positions are natural, others sound odd.

Most natural options include:

  • Рассеянный студент часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.
  • Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь… (your sentence)
  • Часто рассеянный студент теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.
    (starting with Часто adds emphasis to the frequency: “Often, the absent‑minded student…”)

Odd or wrong‑sounding:

  • Студент часто же теряет тетрадь… – feels clumsy; же is better after what you’re thematically emphasizing, e.g. студент же.
  • Студент теряет часто тетрадь – possible in certain emphatic styles, but generally unnatural in neutral speech.

Safest for learners: put часто before the verb group:

  • часто теряет, часто забывает.
Why don’t we say свою тетрадь or своё домашнее задание? How do I know when to use possessive pronouns?

In Russian, possessive pronouns (мой, твой, свой etc.) are often omitted when ownership is obvious, especially with:

  • body parts
  • family members
  • personal items normally belonging to the subject

Here, since the subject is студент, it’s natural to assume:

  • тетрадь – his own notebook
  • домашнее задание – his own homework

So:

  • Рассеянный студент часто теряет тетрадь…
    is understood as “often loses his notebook.”

You would add свою / своё when you need to:

  • contrast with someone else’s things:
    Он потерял свою тетрадь, а не мою. – “He lost his own notebook, not mine.”
  • remove ambiguity:
    Он забыл своё домашнее задание. (to emphasize his, not someone else’s)
What are the cases and genders of тетрадь and домашнее задание here? Why don’t they change form in the accusative?

Both are direct objects, so they are in the accusative case.

  1. тетрадь

    • Nominative sg.: тетрадь
    • Gender: feminine
    • Accusative sg. for feminine nouns ending in a soft sign ь (and being inanimate) is the same as nominative:
      • Nom: тетрадь
      • Acc: тетрадь So the form doesn’t change, but grammatically it is accusative.

  2. домашнее задание

    • Head noun: задание – neuter
    • Adjective: домашнее – neuter, sg., nominative/accusative
    • For neuter inanimate nouns, nominative and accusative are also identical:
      • Nom: домашнее задание
      • Acc: домашнее задание

That’s why you don’t see a visible ending change, even though both are in the accusative.

Why is it домашнее задание in the singular, when English uses “homework” as an uncountable noun?

In Russian, домашнее задание is literally “a home assignment” and is grammatically a countable neuter noun phrase.

Typical uses:

  • домашнее задание (sg.)
    “(the) homework / assignment” – often for one piece/set of homework.
  • домашние задания (pl.)
    “homework assignments” – several separate tasks.
  • Colloquial: домашка (slang) – “homework.”

In many contexts, singular домашнее задание corresponds to English uncountable “homework”:

  • Он забыл домашнее задание. – “He forgot his homework.”

Plural домашние задания is used when you want to stress multiple separate assignments:

  • У нас сегодня три домашних задания. – “We have three homework assignments today.”
Why is the conjunction и used here, and not а? Is there a comma missing before и?

About и vs а:

  • и = “and”, simply adds another similar action, no contrast:
    • теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание – “loses his notebook and forgets his homework.”
  • а often introduces contrast or opposition (“but”, “whereas”):
    • Он теряет тетрадь, а я никогда не теряю. – “He loses his notebook, whereas I never do.”

In your sentence, the two actions (losing and forgetting) are just two bad habits of the same kind, so и is the natural choice.

About the comma:

  • No comma is needed here before и, because you have one subject (студент) performing two verbs connected by и:
    • (студент) теряет и забывает…
  • Russian, like English, does not put a comma between two verbs with the same subject joined by и/and in a simple clause.
Can the word order change, like Часто рассеянный студент теряет тетрадь… or Рассеянный студент теряет часто тетрадь? How does that affect meaning?

Russian word order is flexible, but not all variants sound equally natural.

Natural / acceptable:

  1. Рассеянный студент же часто теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.
    Neutral, with a slight nuance from же.

  2. Часто рассеянный студент теряет тетрадь и забывает домашнее задание.
    Emphasizes Часто (“Often, the absent‑minded student…”). Still fine.

Less natural:

  1. Рассеянный студент теряет часто тетрадь…
    Possible but sounds stylistically marked or awkward in neutral speech. Learners should avoid splitting теряет and часто like this.

General safe guideline:

  • Place adverbs like часто before the verb or at the start of the clause:
    • Часто он теряет тетрадь.
    • Он часто теряет тетрадь.