Breakdown of Учёный работает в университете.
работать
to work
в
in / to (direction)
университет
university
учёный
scientist, scholar
Questions & Answers about Учёный работает в университете.
Why does the word for scientist (учёный) look like an adjective?
In Russian, some words for people are actually adjectives acting as nouns. Учёный comes from a word meaning learned. Because of this, it changes its endings just like a regular adjective when it is used in different grammatical cases.
Why does the verb работает end in -ет?
The dictionary form of the verb is работать (to work). Because the subject is a single person (the scientist), we use the third-person singular (he/she/it) form. To do this, we drop the -ть and add -ет.
Why is it в университете and not на университете?
When talking about being physically located inside a building or an institution like a university, Russian uses в (in/at). You would use на for open spaces or abstract activities, like на работе (at work).
Why does университете end in an -е?
The word is in the Prepositional case, which is used to indicate a location. The dictionary form of the noun is университет. To show that the scientist is 'at' this location, we add an -е to the end of the word.
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