Breakdown of В понедельник я встречаю моего лучшего друга.
я
I
друг
friend
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
встречать
to meet
в
on / during (a time period)
понедельник
Monday
лучший
best
Questions & Answers about В понедельник я встречаю моего лучшего друга.
Why do моего and лучшего end in -его?
Because they describe друга (friend), which is an animate masculine noun (a living being). When a masculine noun is animate, its Accusative form looks exactly like its Genitive form. Therefore, its modifiers (like мой and лучший) must also take the Genitive endings -его or -ого.
How do I pronounce the -его ending in моего and лучшего?
In Russian, the letter г in the -его and -ого endings for adjectives and pronouns is always pronounced like an English 'v'. So моего is pronounced like 'ma-ye-vo' and лучшего is pronounced like 'looch-she-va'.
If в понедельник uses the Accusative case, why doesn't the word понедельник change its ending?
It actually is in the Accusative case! However, because понедельник is an inanimate masculine noun (not a living being), its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary (Nominative) form. This is the exact opposite of what happens with the animate noun друга later in the sentence.
Why does the sentence use the present tense встречаю (I meet / I am meeting) if Monday is in the future?
Just like in English, Russian can use the present tense to talk about firmly scheduled future plans. Because you are already certain this meeting is happening, using the present tense встречаю is perfectly natural here.
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