Questions & Answers about Мы их не понимаем.
Why is the word их (them) placed before the verb instead of at the end of the sentence?
In Russian, object pronouns like их very often come before the verb, especially in short sentences. While Мы не понимаем их (We don't understand them) is also perfectly correct, Мы их не понимаем flows better and sounds much more natural to a native speaker.
Wait, I thought их meant "their". Why does it mean "them" here?
The word их actually does double duty! It is both the possessive word for "their" (as in их брат - their brother) and the Accusative case pronoun for "them" (the target of the verb). Since there is no noun after it for it to own, it is acting as the object pronoun "them".
Why does the verb end in -ем here?
The verb must match the subject of the sentence, which is мы (we). To conjugate the dictionary form of the verb понимать (to understand), you drop the -ть and add the "we" ending -ем to get понимаем.
Why is не placed exactly where it is?
To negate an action in Russian (saying you "do not" do something), the negative particle не must always go immediately before the verb. Placing it in front of the pronoun instead (Мы не их понимаем) would sound very strange, as it would mean "We understand not them (but someone else)."
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