Breakdown of Она покупает фрукты и овощи.
и
and
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
покупать
to buy
фрукт
fruit
овощ
vegetable
Questions & Answers about Она покупает фрукты и овощи.
Why does фрукты end in -ы?
The singular word is фрукт (fruit). In Russian, to make a regular masculine noun ending in a hard consonant plural, you add -ы.
If they are both masculine nouns, why does овощи end in -и instead of -ы?
The singular word is овощ (vegetable). Notice that it ends in щ. A very important spelling rule in Russian says that you can never write the letter ы after г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, щ. Because of this rule, we must use -и instead to make it plural.
Since she is buying them, shouldn't фрукты and овощи be in the accusative (object) case?
They actually are in the accusative case here! But there is a handy rule for inanimate (non-living) nouns: their accusative plural forms are exactly the same as their nominative plural forms. So they don't change their endings when they become the direct object of the sentence.
How does the verb покупает match up with Она?
The dictionary form of the verb is покупать (to buy). To make it match Она (she), we drop the -ть ending and add -ет.
Learn Она покупает фрукты и овощи 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