Breakdown of Мой брат сейчас завтракает.
брат
brother
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
сейчас
now
завтракать
to have breakfast
Questions & Answers about Мой брат сейчас завтракает.
Why does the verb end in -ет here?
The dictionary form is завтракать (to have breakfast), which is a first conjugation verb. Because "my brother" is a "he" (third person singular), we drop the -ть from the infinitive and add the ending -ет to make завтракает.
The translation says "is having breakfast". Does Russian have a continuous tense?
No, Russian doesn't distinguish between "has breakfast" (every day) and "is having breakfast" (right now). The single present tense form завтракает covers both! We know it means "is having breakfast" in this specific sentence because of the word сейчас (now).
I know завтра means "tomorrow". Is it related to завтракает?
Yes, they share the same root! Historically, the morning meal was prepared ahead of time, "for tomorrow". Noticing this connection is a great trick to help you remember that завтракать means "to have breakfast".
Could I put сейчас at the end of the sentence instead?
Absolutely. Russian word order is very flexible. Мой брат завтракает сейчас is also perfectly correct. Putting adverbs of time like сейчас right before the verb is just a very natural and common habit in Russian.
Just to review, why do we use Мой instead of Моя?
Мой is the masculine form of "my", and possessive words must match the gender of the noun they describe. Since брат (brother) is a masculine noun, we use Мой. If you were talking about a sister, you would switch to the feminine form: Моя сестра.
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