Questions & Answers about Мы покупаем новые стулья.
Why is the plural of стул here стулья instead of "стулы"?
Стул (chair) is a masculine noun, but it has an irregular plural ending in -ья. It follows the same pattern as other common irregular plurals in this lesson, such as брат (brother) becoming братья and друг (friend) becoming друзья. You just have to memorize these special forms.
The chairs are what we are buying. Why aren't новые стулья in the accusative case?
They actually are in the accusative case! For plural inanimate objects (things that are not alive, like chairs), the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) case. That is why both the adjective новые and the noun стулья do not change their endings here.
How does the soft sign (ь) change the pronunciation of стулья?
The soft sign (ь) acts as a separator between the consonant л and the vowel я. Instead of blending into a simple "lya" sound, it creates a slight "y" sound break, making it sound more like "stool-ya".
What is the dictionary form of покупаем, and why does it have the -ем ending?