Questions & Answers about Наши матери отдыхают дома.
Wait, the singular for 'mother' is usually мама. Why is it матери here?
Мама is the everyday word for 'mom.' But Russian also has the more formal word мать (mother). Its plural form is highly irregular: instead of just adding a standard plural ending, the core of the word expands to матер-, making the plural матери.
Why does наши end in -и instead of the usual plural -ы?
Наши (our) is the plural form of наш. Normally, many plural words end in -ы, but an important Russian spelling rule says you can never write the letter ы after the letter ш. Because of this rule, it must be written with an и instead.
How do I know to use отдыхают instead of отдыхает?
Отдыхают (they are resting) is the plural form matching 'they' (они). Since the subject is multiple mothers, we need this 'they' form of the verb отдыхать (to rest). If it were just one mother, you would use the 'she' form: отдыхает.
Does дома mean 'house' or 'at home' here?
Here, дома is an adverb meaning 'at home'. The noun for a physical building is дом (house). When you want to say someone is currently located in their home, you do not use the word for house; you use this special fixed word дома.
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