Question 1

Why does the Russian sentence not have a word for "is"?

Accepted Answer

In English, "late" is an adjective, so we use the verb "to be" (He is late). In Russian, опаздывать is an action verb meaning "to be late." So, опаздывает does the job of both words. You do not need a separate word for "is."

Question 2

Since we are learning the past tense, how would I say "He was often late"?

Accepted Answer

You would change the verb to the past tense. Опаздывать is a regular verb. Just drop the -ть from the dictionary form and add -л for a masculine subject (он). The sentence becomes: Он часто опаздывал.

Question 3

The word опаздывает looks long! What are we actually adding to the base word here?

Accepted Answer

The base dictionary form is опаздывать (to be late). To say "he is late", you drop the -ть and add -ет. The -ет ending is the standard present-tense ending for "he", "she", or "it" for most regular verbs.

Question 4

Could I put часто at the end of the sentence, like Он опаздывает часто?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Russian word order is flexible. However, placing adverbs like часто (often) right before the verb is the most natural and common order, just like in the English phrase "He often arrives late."

Он часто опаздывает.

Breakdown of Он часто опаздывает.

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