Breakdown of Где живёт твой друг?
где
where / wherever
друг
friend
твой
your [informal] (твой, твоя, твоё)
жить
to live
Questions & Answers about Где живёт твой друг?
Why does the verb живёт look so different from its dictionary form?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is жить (to live). It is an irregular verb. In the present tense, a hidden в pops up in the stem. It conjugates like this: я живу, ты живёшь, он/она живёт. Since твой друг (your friend) acts as a "he" (он), we use живёт.
Why is the verb placed before the subject here?
Russian word order is very flexible. In questions starting with a question word like Где (where), it is very natural to put the verb immediately after it, literally meaning "Where lives your friend?". You could also say Где твой друг живёт? and it would mean the exact same thing.
Why do we use твой here instead of ваш for "your"?
твой is the informal "your" (matching the informal "you", ты). If you are asking someone about their friend, you are probably on informal terms with them. If you were speaking to someone formally (like a boss or a stranger), you would use ваш. It is in the masculine form here because друг (friend) is a masculine noun.
The letter ж makes a hard sound. Why is живёт spelled with an и instead of an ы?
You are hearing it correctly! The letter ж always makes a hard sound. However, a very strict Russian spelling rule states that you can never write the letter ы after ж or ш. You must always use и. This is famously known as the "жи-ши" rule.
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