Breakdown of Извините, где здесь музей?
где
where / wherever
здесь
here
музей
museum
извините
excuse me, sorry (polite)
Questions & Answers about Извините, где здесь музей?
Why does Извините end in -те?
The -те ending makes it formal or plural. You use Извините when speaking to a stranger, someone older, or multiple people. If you were talking to a close friend or a child, you would drop the -те and just say Извини.
Why is there no word for "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always skipped in the present tense. Instead of saying "where is the museum," you simply say "where the museum."
Why are где (where) and здесь (here) used right next to each other?
While you can just ask Где музей? (Where is the museum?), adding здесь is a very natural way for Russians to ask where something is located in the immediate vicinity. It translates smoothly to "Where is the museum around here?"
What gender is the word музей?
Музей is a masculine noun. Even though it does not end in a standard hard consonant, nouns that end in the letter й (the "short i" sound) are masculine in Russian.