Questions & Answers about На ужин мама жарит кабачок и баклажан.
Why is it на ужин?
На ужин is a very common Russian expression meaning for dinner.
Grammatically, на here is used with the accusative case to express purpose or intended use:
- на завтрак — for breakfast
- на обед — for lunch
- на ужин — for dinner
So На ужин мама жарит кабачок и баклажан literally feels like For dinner, Mom is frying zucchini and eggplant.
This is more natural in Russian than trying to say something like для ужина in this context. Для ужина is possible in some situations, but на ужин is the standard everyday phrase for meals.
Why is ужин in the form ужин, not something like ужина?
Because after на in this meaning, Russian uses the accusative case, and ужин is a masculine inanimate noun.
For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is the same as the nominative singular:
- nominative: ужин
- accusative: ужин
So the form does change by case in grammar, but it just happens to look the same here.
Why is there no word for the or a before мама, кабачок, and баклажан?