Breakdown of Другая таможенница только улыбнулась и сказала, что штамп уже стоит.
стоять
to stand
и
and
сказать
to say
что
that
Questions & Answers about Другая таможенница только улыбнулась и сказала, что штамп уже стоит.
Why is it другая таможенница and not some other form like другой таможенница?
Because другая has to agree with таможенница in:
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative
Таможенница is a feminine noun, so the adjective must also be feminine: другая.
Here it means the other customs woman / another customs officer.
What exactly does таможенница mean?
Таможенница means female customs officer or customs woman.
It is the feminine form of:
- таможенник = male customs officer
- таможенница = female customs officer
Russian often has masculine and feminine versions of nouns for professions or roles, especially when talking about a specific person.
What does другая mean here: other or another?
It can feel like either the other or another, depending on context.
In this sentence, другая таможенница most naturally means:
- the other customs officer if two officers are being contrasted
- another customs officer if one officer has already been mentioned and now the speaker refers to a different one
Russian другой / другая / другое covers both ideas more broadly than English sometimes does.