Breakdown of Как ты говоришь по-русски?
ты
you (singular)
говорить
to speak, to talk
по-русски
in Russian
как
how
Questions & Answers about Как ты говоришь по-русски?
What exactly is Как asking in this sentence?
Как means "how." In this lesson, it is used to ask about the manner of an action. By asking Как ты говоришь, you are asking about the quality or level of someone's speaking ability.
How should I answer this question using the words from this lesson?
Because the question asks "how," you answer with an adverb of manner. For example, you can reply Я говорю по-русски хорошо (I speak Russian well) or Я говорю по-русски очень плохо (I speak Russian very poorly).
Why is "Russian" written as по-русски with a hyphen here?
When talking about speaking a language, Russian uses an adverb form instead of a noun. По-русски literally translates to "in the Russian way." You make this form by adding the prefix по- and the ending -и to the word.
I remember verbs for ты ending in "-ешь". Why does говоришь end in "-ишь"?
The dictionary form of the verb is говорить (to speak). It belongs to a group of Russian verbs (the second conjugation) that use -и- in their endings rather than -е-. Therefore, matching it with ты (you, informal) gives us the ending -ишь.
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