Breakdown of Наш город на севере.
город
city
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
север
north
Questions & Answers about Наш город на севере.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb "to be" is skipped in the present tense. So, instead of saying "Our city is in the north", you simply say Наш город на севере (Our city in the north).
Why is the word for "our" наш and not наша or наше?
Наш changes to match the gender of the noun it describes. Because город (city) is a masculine word (it ends in a consonant), we use the masculine form наш. If it were a feminine word like машина (car), you would use наша.
Why do we use на instead of в for "in the north"?
In Russian, compass directions (north, south, east, west) always take the preposition на instead of в, even though in English we say "in". You can think of it as being located "on" the compass point.
Why does север (north) end with an -е here?
When you talk about the location where something is (using в or на to mean "in" or "on"), the noun changes to a form called the Prepositional case. For most masculine words like север, this means adding an -е to the end, making it на севере.
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