Breakdown of Им не нравятся твои шутки.
не
not
они
they
твой
your [informal] (твой, твоя, твоё)
нравиться
to please / to appeal
шутка
joke
Questions & Answers about Им не нравятся твои шутки.
Why does this sentence start with Им instead of Они?
In Russian, expressing what someone likes works backwards compared to English. We literally say that something is pleasing TO someone. The person who likes it must be in the Dative case. Им is the Dative form of Они (they), so it means 'to them'.
Why do we use нравятся here instead of нравится?
The verb has to match the thing that is liked, because that thing is the actual grammatical subject of the sentence. Since шутки (jokes) is plural, we use the plural verb нравятся (are pleasing). If they didn't like just one joke (шутка), we would use the singular form нравится.
Where exactly does the negative word не go in sentences like this?
The negative word не goes directly before the verb it negates. So we put it right before нравятся. The literal translation of this sentence is: To them не (not) нравятся (are pleasing) your jokes.
Why is the word for 'your' spelled твои?
Possessive words like 'your' have to match the gender and number of the noun they describe. Because шутки (jokes) is a plural noun, you must use the plural form твои instead of the singular forms like твой (masculine) or твоя (feminine).
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