Questions & Answers about Я покупаю помидоры.
Does покупаю mean "I buy" or "I am buying"?
It means both! Russian doesn't have a separate "continuous" tense like English does. Depending on the context, я покупаю can mean "I buy" as a general habit, or "I am buying" right now.
Why does the verb покупаю end with -ю?
This is the standard present tense ending for "I" (first person singular). The dictionary form of the verb is покупать (to buy). To say "I buy", you drop the -ть and add -ю.
Since the tomatoes are the direct object being bought, shouldn't помидоры change its ending for the accusative case?
It is actually in the accusative case! However, for inanimate objects (things that aren't alive, like vegetables), the plural accusative form looks exactly the same as the regular plural form. So, помидоры doesn't get a special new ending here.
What is the singular word for "tomato" and how does it become plural here?
The singular word is помидор. Because it is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant, you simply add -ы to the end to make it plural, resulting in помидоры.
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