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Questions & Answers about Где ты, брат?
Why is there no word for "are" in this sentence?
In the present tense, Russian doesn't use the verb "to be" (am, is, are). You just put the question word and the subject pronoun together, so Где ты? literally means "Where you?".
Since "you" can be translated a few ways in Russian, why do we use ты here?
ты is the informal, singular word for "you". You use it when speaking to one person you are close to, like a family member (брат), a friend, or a child. If you were asking a stranger, a professional, or a group of people, you would use the formal or plural pronoun вы.
Is the comma before брат strictly necessary?
Yes! In Russian, whenever you address someone directly by their name or a relationship word like брат, you must separate it from the rest of the sentence with a comma.
Why doesn't the word брат change its ending here?
When you address someone directly, you just use the basic dictionary form of the noun (the nominative case). Even though it feels like you are doing something by talking to him, there is no special ending required for simply calling out his title.