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Что пишет ваш учитель?

Что пишет ваш учитель?
What is your teacher writing?
From Lesson 19:Irregular present tense verbs·Russian

Questions & Answers about Что пишет ваш учитель?

Why does пишет have a "ш" in it when the dictionary form is писать?
The verb писать (to write) is an irregular verb. In the present tense, the letter с changes to ш. For example, "he/she writes" becomes пишет, and "I write" becomes я пишу.
Does пишет mean "writes" or "is writing"?
It means both! Russian doesn't have a separate verb tense for actions happening right now. The present tense verb пишет covers both "writes" in general and "is writing" at this exact moment.
I thought ч makes a "ch" sound. Why does Что sound like "shto"?
You are right about the letter ч, but the word что (what) is a very common exception. It is almost always pronounced as if it were spelled што.
The word учитель ends in a soft sign. How do we know to use the masculine ваш instead of ваша?
Nouns ending in a soft sign (ь) can be masculine or feminine, which you often just have to memorize. However, учитель specifically means a male teacher, so it is a masculine noun and takes the masculine possessive ваш. A female teacher would be учительница.

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