Word
А где человек? Он здесь.
Meaning
And where is the person? He is here.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of А где человек? Он здесь.
где
where / wherever
здесь
here
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
а
and (contrastive)
Questions & Answers about А где человек? Он здесь.
Why does the sentence start with А for 'And' instead of И?
In Russian, А is a very common connecting word used to show a slight shift in focus or a contrast, similar to saying 'And what about...?' or 'But...'. И is used strictly to link things together (like 'you and me'). When starting a follow-up question, А is almost always the right choice.
Where is the word for 'is' in где человек (where is the person) and Он здесь (he is here)?
Russian leaves out the verb 'to be' (am, is, are) in the present tense! You simply place the subject and its location or description next to each other. Literally, the sentence reads 'And where person? He here.'
Since the lesson is about кто (who) and что (what), how would I use those words with this sentence's vocabulary?
The word где asks for a location (where). If you wanted to ask 'Who is here?' instead, you would replace the subject with кто (who) and ask Кто здесь?. If you wanted to ask 'What is here?' (about an object), you would use что and ask Что здесь?.
Why do we use Он (he) to refer to the person? What if the person we are looking for is female?