Breakdown of Мій однокласник розмовляє з вчителем.
мій
my
з
with
вчитель
the teacher
однокласник
the classmate
розмовляти
to talk
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Questions & Answers about Мій однокласник розмовляє з вчителем.
What does the sentence Мій однокласник розмовляє з вчителем mean?
It means "My classmate is talking with the teacher." The sentence is composed of: • Мій однокласник – "my classmate", • розмовляє – "is talking" (the third person singular present form of розмовляти), • з вчителем – "with the teacher" (using з to mean "with" and вчителем in the instrumental case).
Why is вчителем in the instrumental case instead of the nominative?
In Ukrainian, the preposition з (meaning with) requires its following noun to be in the instrumental case. Thus, вчитель (teacher in the nominative) changes to вчителем (teacher in the instrumental), which indicates the person accompanying or involved in the action.
How does the possessive pronoun Мій agree with однокласник?
The pronoun Мій means "my" and is used here because однокласник is a masculine singular noun. In Ukrainian, possessive adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify, so Мій is the correct form for a masculine singular noun.
What is the base form of розмовляє, and what does its form tell us about the subject?
The base (infinitive) of розмовляє is розмовляти, which means "to talk" or "to speak." The form розмовляє is the third person singular present tense, indicating that the action is performed by a single subject—here, the однокласник.
How would the sentence change if the classmate being referred to were female?
If the classmate were female, both the possessive pronoun and the noun might change to reflect the feminine gender. For example, you could say Моя однокласниця розмовляє з вчителем, where Моя is the feminine form of "my" and однокласниця is the feminine form of однокласник.
Why is there no explicit pronoun like he or she before розмовляє?
In Ukrainian, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb’s conjugation and context already indicate the subject. Since Мій однокласник clearly identifies who is performing the action, there is no need for an additional pronoun before розмовляє.