Questions & Answers about Фильм начинается поздно.
Why does the verb end in -ся (начинается)?
The ending -ся makes the verb reflexive. In Russian, if you use the non-reflexive начинает, it means someone is starting something else (like a projectionist starting a movie). Because the film is just beginning on its own, it grammatically starts itself, so we use the reflexive начинается.
How would I change this sentence to the future tense to say the film will begin late?
Since this lesson covers the compound future tense, you combine the future form of быть (to be) with the imperfective infinitive of the verb. The word фильм acts as a third-person singular noun (it), so we use будет. The infinitive of начинается is начинаться. Put together, it becomes: Фильм будет начинаться поздно.
How is the ending -тся in начинается pronounced?
Even though it is spelled with a т and an с, the -тся ending in Russian verbs is pronounced together as a single -ца sound.
Why does поздно end in an -о?
The word поздно is an adverb meaning late. It ends in -о because it describes how or when the verb (начинается) happens. If it were an adjective describing a masculine noun directly, it would have a masculine adjective ending like поздний.
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