Breakdown of Начальник спрашивает, чей это пароль.
это
this / it is
чей
whose (m, sister forms: чья, чьё)
спрашивать
to ask
пароль
password
начальник
boss
Questions & Answers about Начальник спрашивает, чей это пароль.
Why do we use спрашивает here for "asks" instead of просит?
In Russian, there are two different verbs for "to ask". Спрашивать (which becomes спрашивает here) means "to ask a question" or "to inquire". The other verb, просить, means "to ask for a favor" or "to request". Since the boss is asking a question about the password, we use спрашивает.
Why is the word for "whose" чей instead of чья or чьё?
The word чей (whose) changes its ending to match the gender of the noun it belongs to. Here, it refers to пароль (password). Even though it ends in a soft sign (-ь), пароль is a masculine noun, so we use the masculine form чей.
Why is это in the middle of the phrase чей это пароль?
In Russian questions, это (acting as "this is") usually tucks in right after the question word and before the noun. While you could technically say чей пароль это, the order чей это пароль sounds much more natural to a native speaker.
Why is there a comma before чей?
Russian grammar is very strict about commas. You must always use a comma to separate the main sentence (Начальник спрашивает) from a second part that has its own embedded question (чей это пароль). In English, we don't use a comma here, but in Russian, it is absolutely required!
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