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Questions & Answers about Каждый зритель смеялся.
What case are каждый and зритель in, and why?
Both каждый and зритель are in the nominative singular:
- каждый – nominative masculine singular of the determiner “each / every”
- зритель – nominative masculine singular of the noun “spectator”
They are in the nominative because together they form the subject of the sentence. In Russian, the subject normally stands in the nominative case and the verb agrees with it in gender and number, which is why the verb is смеялся (masculine singular) and not a plural form.
Why is зритель singular when we’re talking about many spectators?
In Russian, каждый (“each, every”) normally takes a singular noun, just like English every:
- каждый зритель – every / each spectator
- каждый день – every day
- каждая книга – every book
Even though the meaning is “all the individuals in a group, one by one”, grammatically it stays singular. This is the same pattern as English every spectator (not every spectators).
If you want a straightforward plural subject, you’d use:
- все зрители смеялись – all the spectators laughed.
Why is the verb смеялся (masculine singular) and not a plural form like смеялись?