Questions & Answers about Где сестра?
How can I tell what gender сестра is just by looking at it?
Look at the last letter! The noun сестра ends in -а, which is the most common giveaway that it is a feminine noun. Plus, it means 'sister', so its grammatical gender matches its natural gender perfectly.
Why is there no word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are) is generally skipped. Instead of saying 'Where is the sister?', you literally just say Где сестра? (Where sister?).
Where is the word for 'the' in the Russian sentence?
Russian does not use articles like 'a', 'an', or 'the'. The single word сестра covers both 'a sister' and 'the sister'. You just rely on the context of the conversation to know which one is meant.
Why does the е in сестра sound a bit different than expected?
In Russian, vowels often change their sound if they do not have the stress (the spoken emphasis). The stress in сестра is on the last letter, -а. Because the е is unstressed, it becomes a shorter, weaker sound instead of a full, clear 'yeh'.
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