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Questions & Answers about Полиция в центре.
Where is the word for "are" in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always skipped in the present tense. The sentence literally translates to "Police in centre."
The English translation says "The police are", but is полиция plural in Russian?
No, полиция is a feminine singular noun. In English, we treat "police" as a plural group, but Russian treats it as a single unit (like saying "the police force"). If you paired it with a past tense verb, you would use the feminine singular form.
Why does центр (centre) end with an -е here?
Because the sentence describes a location (answering "where?"), which triggers the Prepositional case. For most masculine words ending in a consonant, like центр, you form the Prepositional case by adding -е to the end, making it в центре.
This lesson is about animate direct objects. Is a group of people like полиция considered animate?
Grammatically, collective nouns for groups of people like полиция (police) or семья (family) are actually considered inanimate in Russian. Also, in this specific sentence, полиция is the subject (doing the action), not the object. However, as a quick reminder: feminine nouns ending in -а or -я change in the Accusative case regardless of whether they are animate or inanimate! If you used it as a direct object (like "I see the police"), the ending would change to give you полицию.