Breakdown of Сестра смотрит квартиру.
сестра
sister
квартира
apartment
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
Questions & Answers about Сестра смотрит квартиру.
Why does the word for apartment end in -у (квартиру) instead of -а (квартира)?
In this sentence, the apartment is the direct object, which is the thing receiving the action. This means we use the Accusative case. For inanimate feminine nouns that normally end in -а, the ending changes to -у when they are the direct object.
The English translation says "looking at", but there is no word for "at" in the Russian sentence. Why?
The Russian verb смотреть (to look / to watch) connects directly to the object it is acting upon without needing a preposition. In Russian, you just say that she "looks the apartment".
Why does the verb смотрит end in -ит?
This is the "he/she/it" form of the verb смотреть (to look). It is a slightly tricky verb because even though its dictionary form ends in -еть, it uses the -и- pattern for its endings. Since сестра is "she", we use the -ит ending.
Why are there no words for "the" and "an" in the Russian sentence?
Russian does not have articles like "the", "a", or "an". The word квартиру can translate to "an apartment" or "the apartment". You decide which one sounds most natural in English based on the context.
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