Word
Где чай? Он не здесь.
Meaning
Where is the tea? It is not here.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Где чай? Он не здесь.
не
not
где
where / wherever
здесь
here
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
Questions & Answers about Где чай? Он не здесь.
How can we tell what gender чай is?
You can usually guess a Russian noun's gender by its last letter. The word чай ends in й, which acts as a consonant. Nouns ending in a consonant are masculine.
Why does the second sentence use он ("he") for tea instead of a word for "it"?
In Russian, pronouns must match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace, even for inanimate objects. Because чай is masculine, we use the masculine pronoun он to refer back to it.
Where is the verb "is" in Где чай? and Он не здесь?
Russian almost always drops the verb "to be" in the present tense. You simply put the subject and the location together, so literally you are saying "Where tea?" and "He not here."
How does negation work with не здесь?
The negative particle не always goes immediately before the specific word you are negating. Since you are saying it is "not here", не sits right in front of здесь (here).