Пожарный спасает ребёнка.

The firefighter is saving the child.

Breakdown of Пожарный спасает ребёнка.

• ребёнок: the child
• пожарный: the firefighter
• спасать: to save

Questions & Answers about Пожарный спасает ребёнка.

Why is ребёнка ending in -а instead of staying ребёнок?

Because ребёнка is the direct object of the verb спасает.

• ребёнок = nominative singular, used for the subject
• ребёнка = accusative singular

For animate masculine nouns in Russian, the accusative singular usually looks like the genitive singular. So:

• ребёнок → subject: Ребёнок спит. = The child is sleeping.
• ребёнка → object: Пожарный спасает ребёнка. = The firefighter is saving the child.

This is a very common pattern in Russian.

What case is each noun in this sentence?

• Пожарный is in the nominative case because it is the subject.
• ребёнка is in the accusative case because it is the direct object.

So the structure is:

• Пожарный = who is doing the action
• спасает = the action
• ребёнка = who is receiving the action

Why does пожарный look like an adjective?