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Questions & Answers about Они играют в баскетбол.
Why is there a в before баскетбол? In English we just say "play basketball".
In Russian, when you talk about playing a sport or a game, you must use the verb играть (to play) with the preposition в (which usually means "in" or "into"). Literally, the sentence translates to "They play into basketball".
Why does the verb end in -ют?
The dictionary form of the verb is играть (to play). Because the subject is Они (they), we drop the -ть ending and add -ют, which is the standard present tense ending for "they" in this group of verbs.
Does the word баскетбол change its ending here because of the preposition в?
It does change grammatically, but you can't see it! The preposition в used with sports requires the Accusative case (used for the direct object of an action). However, because баскетбол is a masculine, inanimate (non-living) noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic dictionary form.
баскетбол sounds a lot like English. Is this common for Russian sports names?
Yes! Many modern sports were introduced to Russia from the West, so their Russian names are borrowed directly from English. You will easily recognize other sports like футбол (soccer/football), волейбол (volleyball), and теннис (tennis).