Breakdown of Мой брат работает на заводе.
брат
brother
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
работать
to work
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
завод
factory
Questions & Answers about Мой брат работает на заводе.
Why do we use на instead of в for 'at a factory'?
In Russian, most enclosed buildings use в (in/at), but there are exceptions that use на (on/at). Завод (factory) is one of these exceptions. You just have to memorize that people work на заводе, not в заводе. Another common exception is на почте (at the post office).
Why does завод have an -е at the end here?
This is the Prepositional case, which is used to talk about locations. For most masculine nouns ending in a consonant (like the dictionary form завод), you add -е to the end to say 'at' or 'in' that place. Together with the preposition, it becomes на заводе.
Why is the verb работает and not работать?
Работать is the dictionary form meaning 'to work'. Because the subject is мой брат (my brother, which equals 'he' or он), you change the ending to match. For most verbs ending in -ать, the 'he/she' form ends in -ет.
If the subject was 'my sister', would the word мой stay the same?
No, мой is the masculine form of 'my', matching the masculine noun брат. If you wanted to say 'my sister works', you would need the feminine form: моя сестра работает.
Learn Мой брат работает на заводе and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free