Questions & Answers about Я вижу иностранца.
Why does the word for foreigner end in -а here?
In this sentence, the foreigner is the direct object (the person being seen), so it takes the Accusative case. Because a foreigner is a living person, we use the rule for ANIMATE masculine nouns. Instead of staying the same like inanimate masculine objects do, animate masculine nouns take an -а or -я ending in the Accusative.
The dictionary form is иностранец. Why did the -е- disappear in иностранца?
Russian frequently uses fleeting vowels. When you add an ending to certain nouns, the last vowel inside the base word (usually an о or an е) drops out to make the word easier to say. Here, иностранец drops the е right before adding the -а ending.
Adding -а to a masculine noun usually makes it Genitive case. Is that what is happening here?
It looks exactly like it! For masculine animate nouns (living beings), the Accusative case copies the exact same endings as the Genitive case. Even though иностранца looks identical to a Genitive word, its grammatical job in this specific sentence is the Accusative direct object.
Is вижу a regular verb?
It comes from the verb видеть (to see). It has a slight spelling change in the я (I) form: the д turns into a ж, giving us вижу. For the rest of the forms, the д stays, such as in ты видишь (you see) or он видит (he sees).
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