Breakdown of Почему вы продаёте эту хорошую квартиру?
вы
you (plural or formal)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
хороший
good
квартира
apartment
почему
why
продавать
to sell
Questions & Answers about Почему вы продаёте эту хорошую квартиру?
Why do the words эту, хорошую, and квартиру all end in a U-sound?
They are in the accusative case because the apartment is the direct object (the thing being sold). For feminine singular words, the noun квартира changes to квартиру, the demonstrative pronoun эта (this) changes to эту, and the adjective хорошая (good) changes to хорошую.
Why does хорошую end in -ую instead of -юю?
The accusative ending for feminine adjectives depends on their nominative dictionary form. Since the nominative is хорошая (ending in -ая), the accusative is хорошую (ending in -ую). The -юю ending is only for soft adjectives that end in -яя in the dictionary form, such as синяя (blue) which becomes синюю.
The dictionary form for to sell is продавать. Why does the -ва- disappear in продаёте?
Russian verbs ending in -давать, -знавать, and -ставать drop the -ва- suffix when conjugated in the present tense. Therefore, the stem becomes прода- and takes the standard endings with a stressed ё, giving us вы продаёте (you are selling).
Could we use the perfective verb продать here instead of продавать?
No, because perfective verbs cannot describe ongoing actions in the present tense. The question asks what the person is doing right now (Why are you selling?), so we must use the imperfective verb. Using the perfective verb would change the meaning to the future tense (Why will you sell?).
Learn Почему вы продаёте эту хорошую квартиру and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free