Мы смотрим фильм про супругов‑музыкантов, которые то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки.

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Breakdown of Мы смотрим фильм про супругов‑музыкантов, которые то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки.

• мы: we
• смотреть: to watch
• фильм: the movie
• из-за: because of
• про: about
• спорить: to argue
• то … то: now ... now
• супруг-музыкант: the musician spouse
• которые: who
• репетировать: to rehearse

Questions & Answers about Мы смотрим фильм про супругов‑музыкантов, которые то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки.

In мы смотрим фильм, why is it смотрим фильм and not смотрим на фильм?

In Russian, смотреть without a preposition usually means to watch (a movie, a show, TV, etc.) and takes a direct object (accusative case):

• смотреть фильм, смотреть сериал, смотреть телевизор

смотреть на + accusative means to look at something as a visual object, not as a piece of content:

• смотреть на картину – to look at a painting
• смотреть на дом – to look at a house
• смотреть на экран – to look at the screen

So:

• мы смотрим фильм – we’re watching a film (following the story)
• мы смотрим на фильм – would sound like you’re literally looking at the physical film (or poster) as an object, which is not what you want here.

You could also say мы смотрим кино (“we’re watching a movie / movies in general”), where кино is more generic and colloquial.

Why is the preposition про used with фильм? Can we say фильм о супругов‑музыкантов?

With фильм, Russian very often uses про in everyday speech:

• фильм про войну – a film about the war
• фильм про любовь – a film about love
• фильм про супружескую пару – a film about a married couple

про normally takes the accusative case. That’s why we get про супругов‑музыкантов (accusative plural, animate).

You can also use о (“about”), but:

1. It’s a bit more neutral/formal.
2. It requires the prepositional case, not the accusative.

So the correct version with о would be:

• фильм о супругах‑музыкантах (prepositional plural: о супругах, о музыкантах)

Your suggested фильм о супругов‑музыкантов is ungrammatical because о never takes the accusative; it always requires the prepositional case.

What case is супругов‑музыкантов, and why do both words end in ‑ов?

Супругов‑музыкантов is in the accusative plural referring to animate nouns (people).

In Russian, for animate masculine plural nouns, the accusative form is identical to the genitive plural:

• Nom. pl.: супруги, музыканты
• Gen. pl.: супругов, музыкантов
• Acc. pl. (animate): супругов, музыкантов

Because the preposition про normally takes the accusative, and we’re talking about people (animate), both nouns appear in this “genitive-looking” ‑ов form.

So:

• про супругов‑музыкантов – about the spouse-musicians (accusative plural, animate)
• If they were inanimate, the accusative plural would usually look like the nominative (e.g. про столы, про дома).

Why is there a hyphen in супругов‑музыкантов?

The hyphen here links two nouns that refer to the same people in apposition:

• супруги – spouses (husband and wife)
• музыканты – musicians

супруги‑музыканты (or in our form супругов‑музыкантов) means “spouses who are (also) musicians”, i.e. “a married couple who are musicians”.

This is a common pattern: a “role/status” noun + another noun indicating profession, nationality, etc.:

• студентка‑француженка – a student who is French
• писатель‑фантаст – a writer who writes science fiction
• врач‑хирург – a doctor who is a surgeon

Without the hyphen, супругов, музыкантов (with a comma) would often be read as two separate groups: “spouses and musicians”, not necessarily the same people.

With the hyphen, Russian clearly signals that it’s one group with two labels: “spouse‑musicians”.

How does которые work here, and what exactly does it refer to?

Которые is a relative pronoun meaning “who / which / that” in plural. It introduces a relative clause:

• …супругов‑музыкантов, которые то репетируют, то спорят…

Here:

• которые refers back to супругов‑музыкантов (plural)
• It agrees in number (plural) and gender (here: masculine/feminine mixed group, but form is just plural) with that noun phrase.
• It is the subject of the verbs репетируют and спорят.

So the structure is:

• супругов‑музыкантов, которые [что делают?] то репетируют, то спорят…
  → “spouse‑musicians who sometimes rehearse, sometimes argue…”

It does not refer to фильм, because if it did, it would be singular masculine:

• фильм, который идёт по телевизору – the film that is on TV

Here the nearest plural noun phrase супругов‑музыкантов is the logical and grammatical antecedent.

What does the pattern то репетируют, то спорят mean exactly?

The correlative construction то … то … describes alternating or repeated actions, often like “now … then … / sometimes … sometimes …”:

• то репетируют, то спорят ≈ “they are either rehearsing or arguing (then back to rehearsing, then arguing, etc.)”

Some English renderings:

• “they keep either rehearsing or arguing”
• “they’re sometimes rehearsing, sometimes arguing”
• “they alternate between rehearsing and arguing”

Other examples:

• Он то смеётся, то плачет. – He is now laughing, now crying.
• Погода то улучшается, то портится. – The weather keeps getting better, then worse.

The verbs here are in the imperfective present, which fits well with this idea of ongoing or repeatedly changing states.

Why is there a comma between то репетируют and то спорят?

In Russian, то … то … can link:

• words (no comma needed), or
• whole clauses with their own verbs (comma is used).

Here, each то introduces a separate clause with a finite verb:

• (они) то репетируют, (они) то спорят…

So these are two coordinated clauses, and Russian punctuation requires a comma between them, much like you would put a comma in English:

• “they sometimes rehearse, sometimes argue”

If то … то … were joining just short phrases without separate predicates, you might not use a comma, but with full clauses you do.

What is the nuance of спорят из‑за музыки compared to спорят о музыке?

Both involve спорить (“to argue / to dispute”), but the preposition changes the meaning:

• спорить о музыке – to argue about music as a topic

  • They discuss music and disagree: styles, composers, tastes, etc.

• спорить из‑за музыки – to argue because of music; music is the cause of the quarrel

  • Maybe one plays too loud, another doesn’t like the genre, or their work with music causes conflicts.
  • из‑за usually introduces a cause, often with a negative shade: problems, conflicts, failures “because of” something.

So in the sentence:

• …которые то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки.
  → “…who sometimes rehearse, sometimes argue because of music (music is the source of their conflicts).”

Why does из‑за take музыки in the genitive case?

The preposition из‑за always requires the genitive case.

Музыка (nom.) → музыки (gen. sg.), so we get:

• из‑за музыки – because of the music
• Other examples:
  
  • из‑за дождя – because of the rain
  • из‑за работы – because of work
  • из‑за него – because of him

So the form музыки is simply the regular genitive singular after из‑за.

Does из‑за музыки logically apply only to спорят, or to both репетируют and спорят?

Grammatically, из‑за музыки is closest to спорят, and that’s how it’s naturally interpreted:

• то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки
  → “sometimes they rehearse, sometimes they argue because of music.”

Native speakers will usually understand that:

• they argue because of music,
• not that they rehearse because of music.

If you wanted to make it absolutely clear that both actions are caused by music (which would sound odd conceptually), you’d normally restructure the sentence. As it stands, the cause is attached to спорят.

Is мы смотрим фильм closer to English “we watch a film” or “we are watching a film (right now)”?

Russian imperfective present usually covers both meanings:

• мы смотрим фильм can mean
  
  • “we are watching a film (right now)” – current ongoing action, or
  • “we watch a film (as a regular habit)” – repeated action.

Context usually clarifies which is meant. If you want to stress “right now”, you can add something like:

• мы сейчас смотрим фильм – we’re watching a film right now
• мы смотрим фильм в кинотеатре – we’re watching a film in the cinema (now)

For a habitual meaning, you might add adverbs of frequency:

• Мы часто смотрим фильмы вечером. – We often watch films in the evening.

Could we say мы смотрим фильм о супругах‑музыкантах, которые… instead? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

• Мы смотрим фильм о супругах‑музыкантах, которые то репетируют, то спорят из‑за музыки.

This is grammatical and the basic meaning stays the same: “We’re watching a film about spouse‑musicians who sometimes rehearse, sometimes argue because of music.”

The main difference is stylistic:

• фильм про … – more colloquial, very common in spoken language.
• фильм о … – slightly more neutral or bookish.

Also note the case change:

• про супругов‑музыкантов – accusative plural (animate) after про
• о супругах‑музыкантах – prepositional plural after о

So you must adjust the endings when you switch the preposition.

Why are репетируют and спорят in the imperfective aspect, not perfective?

Imperfective aspect in the present (репетируют, спорят) is used for:

• ongoing processes
• repeated/habitual actions
• states or activities without focusing on their completion

The construction то … то … describes repeated alternation of activities, so imperfective fits perfectly:

• то репетируют, то спорят – they keep rehearsing, then arguing, then rehearsing again, etc.

If you used perfective forms (e.g. отрепетируют, поспорят), it would:

• sound unnatural in this то … то … pattern
• focus on completed single acts, not on the ongoing pattern of behavior

So imperfective present is the natural and expected choice here.