Breakdown of Друзья тебе часто звонят? — Да.
да
yes
друг
friend
часто
often
звонить
to call
тебе
to you (informal)
Questions & Answers about Друзья тебе часто звонят? — Да.
Why is "you" translated as тебе instead of ты or тебя?
The verb звонить (to call on the phone) requires the Dative case for the person receiving the call. You can think of it as making a call to someone. So, the basic pronoun ты (you) changes to its Dative form, тебе.
I thought the word for friend was друг. Why is it друзья here?
Друзья is the plural form of друг (friends). It is one of the most common irregular plurals in Russian, meaning it completely changes its ending rather than following the normal rules of just adding -и or -ы.
Why doesn't the Russian sentence start with a question word like "Do"?
Russian doesn't use helper words like "do" or "does" to form questions. To ask a yes/no question, you can just use the standard statement word order and raise your pitch at the end of the sentence to show you are asking something.
Why does the verb звонят end in -ят?
The verb звонить (to call) is a Type II (or -ить) verb. When matching it with a "they" subject like друзья (friends), Type II verbs take the ending -ат or -ят. This is different from Type I verbs, which take -ут or -ют for "they".
Learn Друзья тебе часто звонят? — Да 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