Breakdown of Где песня? Она здесь.
где
where / wherever
здесь
here
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
песня
song
Questions & Answers about Где песня? Она здесь.
Why do we use Она to say 'it is here'? A song isn't a person!
In Russian, all nouns have a gender, which you can usually guess by looking at the last letter. The word песня (song) ends in -я, which is a classic feminine ending. Because the noun is feminine, we must use the feminine pronoun она to refer back to it, even though in English we just say 'it'.
Why is there no word for 'is' in either of these short sentences?
Russian generally drops the verb 'to be' (am, is, are) in the present tense. So, instead of saying 'Where is the song?' you literally ask 'Where song?' and answer 'She here.'
How does the soft sign (ь) change the pronunciation of здесь?
The soft sign has no sound of its own. It acts as a marker telling you to soften the consonant right before it. Here, it makes the final -с sound softer and lighter, so the word sounds like zdes' rather than ending in a hard s sound.
Could I use тут instead of здесь for 'here'?
Yes! Both тут and здесь mean 'here' and you can use them interchangeably in this context. Тут is slightly more casual and easier to pronounce, but both are very common and correct.