Questions & Answers about Мой друг ответил невежливо.
Why is it мой друг, not моя друг or моё друг?
Because друг is a masculine singular noun. In Russian, possessive words like мой change to match the gender, number, and case of the noun.
- мой = masculine singular
- моя = feminine singular
- моё = neuter singular
- мои = plural
So:
- мой друг = my male friend
- моя подруга = my female friend
Why is друг in this form, not друга?
Here друг is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
The sentence means that the friend is the one performing the action of replying. Subjects normally appear in the nominative:
- Мой друг ответил. = My friend replied.
You would see друга in other cases, for example:
- Я вижу друга. = I see my friend.
Here друга is accusative.
What exactly does ответил mean?