Breakdown of Девочка смотрит фотографию.
девочка
girl
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
фотография
photograph
Questions & Answers about Девочка смотрит фотографию.
Why does the word for photograph end in -ю in this sentence?
The dictionary form of the word is фотография. Because the photograph is the inanimate direct object (the thing being looked at), it is in the Accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -я, the Accusative case ending changes to -ю.
Why isn't there a word for "at" in the Russian sentence?
In English, we say "looking at." In Russian, the verb смотреть can take a direct object without any prepositions to mean "viewing" or "watching" (just like watching TV: смотреть телевизор). You can also say смотрит на фотографию (using the preposition на for "at"), but the version without the preposition emphasizes that she is actively viewing or studying the photo.
How do we know the girl is the one looking, and not the other way around?
The word endings tell us who is doing the action! Девочка is in the Nominative case (the subject form), so she is doing the looking. Фотографию has the Accusative ending -ю, marking it as the object receiving the action. Because of these clear endings, you could even reverse the word order to Фотографию смотрит девочка and it would mean exactly the same thing.
What is the dictionary form of the verb смотрит?
The infinitive (dictionary form) is смотреть (to watch or to look). It changes to смотрит to match the "she" subject (девочка). Even though the infinitive ends in -еть, it is a slight exception to the standard verb rules and uses -и- in its endings instead of -е-.
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