Breakdown of Этот студент всегда внимательно слушает и отлично понимает.
и
and
студент
student (m)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
понимать
to understand
слушать
to listen
всегда
always
внимательно
carefully
отлично
excellently
Questions & Answers about Этот студент всегда внимательно слушает и отлично понимает.
How do you form adverbs like внимательно and отлично?
Many Russian adverbs that describe how something is done answer the question как? (how?). You usually make them by taking an adjective and changing its ending to -о. For example, the adjective внимательный (careful) becomes the adverb внимательно (carefully).
Why do the adverbs come before the verbs here (внимательно слушает, отлично понимает)?
In Russian, adverbs of manner and degree generally come right before the verb they describe. This is different from English, where we usually put them after the verb, like "listens carefully".
Why do the verbs слушает and понимает both end in -ет?
These are standard verbs that follow the most common conjugation pattern. Because the subject is Этот студент (equivalent to "he"), we take the dictionary forms слушать (to listen) and понимать (to understand), drop the -ть, and add the "he/she/it" ending -ет.
Could I use эта instead of этот for "this student"?
No, because студент is a masculine noun, so it requires the masculine word for "this", which is этот. If you were talking about a female student, you would use the feminine noun студентка with the feminine word for this: Эта студентка.
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