Breakdown of Ей нравится эта картина.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
нравиться
to please / to appeal
картина
picture / painting
Questions & Answers about Ей нравится эта картина.
Why does the sentence start with Ей instead of Она for "she"?
In Russian, to express liking something, you actually say that the thing is "pleasing to" you. Ей is the dative case form of она (she), which translates to "to her". So literally, this sentence says "To her is pleasing this painting."
Why do we use нравится here instead of нравятся?
The verb has to match the thing being liked, not the person who likes it! Because картина (painting) is a single item doing the pleasing, we use the singular verb нравится. If she liked multiple paintings, we would use the plural нравятся.
Why is the word for "this" эта instead of это?
"This" must match the gender of the noun it describes. Картина ends in -а, making it a feminine noun, so we use the feminine form эта. You only use это to describe a neuter noun (like это яблоко - this apple) or when making a general statement like "This is a painting" (Это картина).
How do I pronounce the ending of нравится?
The ending -тся is a special combination that is always pronounced like -ца (tsa) in Russian. So the whole word sounds like "nra-vi-tsa", rather than "nra-vit-sya".