Мой кот лежит на диване и мурлычет.

My cat is lying on the couch and purring.

Breakdown of Мой кот лежит на диване и мурлычет.

• мой: my
• и: and
• на: on
• лежать: to lie

Questions & Answers about Мой кот лежит на диване и мурлычет.

Why is it мой кот and not моя кот?

Because кот is a masculine singular noun, and мой has to agree with it.

In Russian, possessive words like мой change for gender, number, and case:

• мой кот = my cat, masculine
• моя кошка = my cat, feminine
• моё окно = my window, neuter
• мои коты = my cats, plural

Here, кот is masculine, so мой is the correct form.

Does кот mean any cat, or specifically a male cat?

Strictly speaking, кот usually means a male cat.

Compare:

• кот = male cat / tomcat
• кошка = female cat
• кошка can also sometimes be used more generally for cat as a species

So мой кот suggests that the speaker has a male cat. If the cat were female, you would normally say моя кошка.

What form is лежит, and why is it used here?