Breakdown of Он покупает пиво.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
покупать
to buy
пиво
beer
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Questions & Answers about Он покупает пиво.
How would we change this sentence to say 'He is buying beers' using the new plural rules?
Neuter nouns ending in -о change to -а in the plural, so пиво becomes пива. However, just like in English, Russians usually use the singular пиво when talking about beer in general.
Пиво is the direct object being bought. Shouldn't its ending change?
Direct objects do take the accusative case. However, for neuter nouns like пиво (and inanimate masculine nouns), the accusative form is exactly the same as the basic dictionary form.
The translation says 'is buying', but isn't покупает just 'buys'?
Russian only has one present tense. Он покупает can mean both 'He buys' as a general habit and 'He is buying' right this second. You just rely on context to know which one is meant!
Why does the verb end in -ет?
The dictionary form of this verb is покупать. Because the subject is он (he), we drop the -ть and add the matching ending -ет.