Breakdown of Я читаю газету и смотрю фотографию.
и
and
я
I
читать
to read
газета
newspaper
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
фотография
photograph
Questions & Answers about Я читаю газету и смотрю фотографию.
Why do the words for newspaper and photograph end in "-у" and "-ю" here?
Both words are the direct objects of the sentence (the things being read and looked at). In the accusative case, feminine nouns ending in -а change to -у (like газета becomes газету) and those ending in -я change to -ю (like фотография becomes фотографию).
The lesson is about "inanimate" objects. Would these endings be different if the feminine nouns were alive (animate)?
For singular feminine nouns ending in -а or -я, the endings always change to -у or -ю as direct objects, whether they are alive (animate) or not (inanimate). The animate vs. inanimate rule only changes how masculine and plural nouns behave in the accusative case, which you will see soon!
In English we say "looking AT a photograph". Why isn't there a Russian word for "at" before фотографию?
The Russian verb смотреть (which means to watch or to look) can take a direct object right after it without needing a preposition like "at". It works more like the English word "watch", where you simply say "I watch a movie".
Why isn't there a second я (I) before the word смотрю (look)?
Just like in English, if the same person is doing both actions connected by и (and), you don't need to repeat the subject pronoun. Plus, the -ю ending on both читаю and смотрю already makes it perfectly clear that "I" am the one doing the actions!
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