Мой брат хорошо играет в баскетбол.

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Breakdown of Мой брат хорошо играет в баскетбол.

• в: in
• брат: the brother
• хорошо: well

Questions & Answers about Мой брат хорошо играет в баскетбол.

Why do we say играет в баскетбол and not just играет баскетбол?

In Russian, when you play a sport or a game, you normally use the verb играть with the preposition в + the accusative case:

• играть в баскетбол – to play basketball
• играть в футбол – to play football/soccer
• играть в шахматы – to play chess

So в баскетбол is the standard pattern: играть в + [name of game/sport in accusative].

Saying играть баскетбол without в is not correct in standard Russian.

What case is баскетбол in, and how can I tell?

Баскетбол is in the accusative case, because it is the object of the verb играет in the pattern играть в + accusative.

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

• Nominative: баскетбол
• Accusative: баскетбол

You know it is accusative here not from the ending (which doesn’t change), but from the preposition в and the verb pattern играть в + accusative.

Why is it играть в баскетбол, but играть на гитаре for playing an instrument?

Russian uses different prepositions depending on what you play: