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)
человек
person
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?
In Russian grammar, pronouns have to match the grammatical gender of the noun they are replacing. The word человек (person) is a masculine noun. Therefore, even if the actual person you are talking about is a woman, you refer back to the word человек using the masculine pronoun Он.
Learn А где человек? Он здесь and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free