В нашем кино‑клубе мы либо смотрим фильм, либо играем в настольную игру.

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Questions & Answers about В нашем кино‑клубе мы либо смотрим фильм, либо играем в настольную игру.

What is going on grammatically in в нашем кино‑клубе? What case is this and why?

В нашем кино‑клубе is:

  • в – a preposition meaning in / at
  • нашем – adjective наш (our) in the prepositional case, masculine singular
  • кино‑клубе – noun кино‑клуб (film club) in the prepositional case, masculine singular

You use в + prepositional case to talk about being in/at a place (static location, no movement):

  • в школе – at school
  • в Москве – in Moscow
  • в нашем кино‑клубе – in our film club

So the structure is literally “in our film club”, and that is why both нашем and кино‑клубе are in the prepositional case.

What exactly is кино‑клуб? Is кино a separate word, and does it change?

Кино‑клуб is a compound noun:

  • кино – “cinema”, “movies”; it comes from кинематограф and is indeclinable (does not change form)
  • клуб – “club”, an ordinary masculine noun that declines

So:

  • nominative: кино‑клуб
  • prepositional: в кино‑клубе (only клуб changes → клубе, кино stays the same)

In modern Russian, кино by itself usually means movies as a general concept or “a film / the cinema” in colloquial speech, but grammatically it does not decline:

  • Я люблю кино. – I love movies.
  • Мы идём в кино. – We are going to the cinema (colloquial).
Why is there a hyphen in кино‑клуб?

Russian often uses a hyphen for compound nouns where the first part is a “descriptive” element:

  • спорт‑клуб – sports club
  • пресс‑центр – press center
  • кино‑клуб – film club

Here кино‑ works like a modifier meaning “related to cinema/films”. Written with a space (кино клуб) would look wrong; without a hyphen (киноклуб) is sometimes possible in similar words, but кино‑клуб with a hyphen is the standard spelling.

Why is the word order В нашем кино‑клубе мы... and not Мы в нашем кино‑клубе...? Are both correct?

Both are grammatically correct:

  • В нашем кино‑клубе мы либо смотрим фильм, либо играем...
  • Мы в нашем кино‑клубе либо смотрим фильм, либо играем...

The difference is in emphasis and information structure:

  • Starting with В нашем кино‑клубе puts the place in focus: “In our film club, we (do X)”. It sets the scene first.
  • Starting with Мы emphasizes the subject: “We, in our film club, (do X)” – for example, in contrast to what others do.

Russian word order is relatively flexible. Speakers often put what they want to highlight or frame closer to the beginning. In this sentence, the speaker is framing “what happens in our film club”, so the location goes first.

What does либо ... либо mean, and how is it different from или?

Либо … либо … is a correlative pair meaning either … or ….

In everyday speech, либо and или are very similar:

  • Мы или смотрим фильм, или играем...
  • Мы либо смотрим фильм, либо играем...

Both sound natural and mean the same here.

Nuances (very general tendencies):

  • или is the most common, neutral or.
  • либо can feel a bit more formal, more “logical”, or a bit softer/less direct in some contexts, but in this sentence they are practically interchangeable.

You usually either repeat the same conjunction:

  • либо … либо …
  • или … или …

rather than mixing them (либо … или …) in standard style.

Why is there a comma before the second либо?

The structure is:

  • мы либо смотрим фильм, либо играем в настольную игру

Here либо connects two whole predicates (two verb phrases):

  1. смотрим фильм
  2. играем в настольную игру

In Russian, when you have repeated conjunctions like либо … либо … / или … или … that join two separate predicates, you usually put a comma before the second one:

  • Мы или читаем, или пишем.
  • Он либо работает, либо отдыхает.

So the comma is there because we have two actions of the same subject joined in this way.

Why is it смотрим фильм and not смотрим кино? What is the difference between фильм and кино?

Both are possible, but they are not identical:

  • фильм – a specific movie/film, a countable item
    • Мы смотрим фильм. – We are watching a (particular) film.
  • кино – more general: cinema as an art/industry, or “a film / movies” in colloquial speech
    • Мы смотрим кино. – We’re watching a movie / watching something (movies) on a screen.

In the context of a кино‑клуб, it is natural to say смотрим фильм because a film club typically watches a specific movie each time. Saying смотрим кино would sound a bit more vague or colloquial, though still understandable.

What case is фильм in here, and why doesn’t it change form?

In смотрим фильм, the noun фильм is in the accusative case (direct object of the verb смотреть – to watch).

For inanimate masculine nouns like фильм, the accusative singular form is identical to the nominative:

  • nominative: фильм – Фильм интересный.
  • accusative: смотрим фильм – We watch a film.

So it looks like it “doesn’t change”, but that is just because nominative and accusative singular are the same for this type of noun.

Why is it играем в настольную игру and not играем настольную игру?

In Russian, the verb играть (to play) almost always needs a preposition when you specify what you play:

  • играть в
    • accusative – play a game or sport
      • играть в футбол
      • играть в шахматы
      • играть в настольную игру
  • играть на
    • prepositional – play an instrument
      • играть на гитаре
      • играть на пианино

So играем в настольную игру is correct.

Играть настольную игру (without в) sounds wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Russian.

What case is настольную игру, and why does настольную end in ‑ую?

Настольную игру is:

  • игру – noun игра (game) in accusative feminine singular
  • настольную – adjective настольная (table, tabletop) in accusative feminine singular, agreeing with игру

Pattern:

  • nominative: настольная игра – a board game
  • accusative (direct object): настольную игру – (we play) a board game

For feminine singular adjectives in the accusative, the ending ‑ую (or ‑юю) is typical when the noun is animate or when the noun just takes the same form as for animate; here it agrees with игру.

So the ending ‑ую on настольную is just normal adjective–noun agreement in the accusative feminine singular.

Why is играть used with в here, but with на in other phrases like “play the guitar”?

Russian uses different prepositions with играть depending on what you play:

  1. играть в + accusative – playing a game / sport

    • играть в футбол – play football
    • играть в шахматы – play chess
    • играть в настольную игру – play a board game
  2. играть на + prepositional – playing a musical instrument

    • играть на гитаре – play the guitar
    • играть на пианино – play the piano

So играем в настольную игру follows the first pattern: it is a game, so you use в.

Why are смотрим and играем imperfective verbs? Could we say посмотрим or сыграем?

Смотрим (from смотреть) and играем (from играть) are imperfective, present tense.

In Russian, imperfective present is used for:

  • regular, repeated activities
  • general descriptions of what usually happens

The sentence describes what the club typically does during its meetings, so the imperfective present is natural.

Perfective forms like посмотрим or сыграем focus on a single, completed action, often in the future:

  • В следующий раз мы посмотрим фильм. – Next time we will watch a film (and finish it).
  • Сегодня сыграем в настольную игру. – Today we will play a board game (once).

So in this general, habitual description, смотрим / играем is the correct aspect.

Is the pronoun мы necessary here, or could you leave it out?

You can leave it out:

  • В нашем кино‑клубе либо смотрим фильм, либо играем в настольную игру.

This is grammatically acceptable, because Russian verb endings show the person and number, so смотрим / играем already indicate “we”.

However:

  • Including мы is very natural and stylistically neutral here.
  • Leaving it out may sound a bit more telegraphic or colloquial, or like a heading / short note.

In normal full sentences, especially in spoken language, Russians very often keep мы in a sentence like this.

Could we just use или once, like мы смотрим фильм или играем в настольную игру, instead of repeating либо?

Yes:

  • В нашем кино‑клубе мы смотрим фильм или играем в настольную игру.

This is perfectly correct and very natural.

Difference in feel:

  • либо … либо … (or или … или …) slightly emphasizes the “either–or” structure, giving a clearer idea that there are two alternative options each time.
  • A single или is more neutral: we watch a film or (we) play a board game.

In everyday speech, a single или is probably more common; the version with repeated либо/или sounds a bit more structured or “careful”.