Breakdown of Он не понимает, почему мы живём здесь.
не
not
здесь
here
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
мы
we
понимать
to understand
жить
to live
почему
why
Questions & Answers about Он не понимает, почему мы живём здесь.
Why does the verb жить (to live) become живём here? Where does the в come from?
Жить is a very common irregular verb. In the present tense, a в is added to the base of the word before the endings. So, for мы (we), we take this new stem жив- and add the ending -ём, giving us мы живём. You will see this hidden в in all present tense forms of this verb, like я живу (I live) and он живёт (he lives).
I see an ё in живём. Why isn't it spelled with a regular е?
In Russian, if the stress of a word falls on an е in a verb ending, it is written as an ё. As a bonus, the letter ё is always the stressed syllable in any Russian word, so it tells you exactly how to pronounce живём (zhi-VYOM).
Why does the sentence use не понимает instead of нет понимает for "does not understand"?
This is a classic beginner mix-up! Нет means "no" and is used as a standalone answer to a question. Не means "not" and is used to negate other words, especially verbs. To say someone "does not" do something, you always put не right before the verb.
Can почему be used in the middle of a statement instead of a question?
Yes! Just like the English word "why", почему can be used to ask a direct question at the start of a sentence, or to connect two parts of a statement (like "He doesn't understand why..."). Notice that Russian grammar requires a comma right before почему when it connects two parts of a sentence like this.
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