Questions & Answers about Где журналы и газеты?
Why do both журналы and газеты end in -ы if one is masculine and the other is feminine?
In the plural, Russian often uses the exact same endings for masculine and feminine words! For most masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant (like журнал), you simply add -ы. For most feminine nouns ending in -а (like газета), you replace the -а with -ы.
Why isn't there a word for "are" in this sentence?
Russian almost always leaves out the present tense forms of the verb "to be" (am, is, are). The sentence literally translates to "Where magazines and newspapers?".
Will the plural ending always be -ы for regular words like these?
Usually, yes! But remember the spelling rules: if the stem of the word ends in certain letters like г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, or щ, you are forced to use -и instead of -ы. Since журнал ends in л and the stem of газета ends in т, they are safe to take the standard -ы.
Does the stress change when making these words plural?
Not for these two! The stress stays exactly where it was in the singular forms: журна́л becomes журна́лы, and газе́та becomes газе́ты. Some Russian words do shift their stress when they become plural, but these ones are nice and predictable.
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