Breakdown of Это фотография моего старшего брата.
это
this / it is
брат
brother
мой
my / mine
фотография
photograph
старший
older, elder
Questions & Answers about Это фотография моего старшего брата.
Why do моего and старшего end in -его instead of -ого?
They are in the genitive case to show possession ('of my older brother'). For masculine words, the standard genitive adjective ending is -ого. However, старший (older) ends in a 'hushing' consonant (ш), so a spelling rule requires it to take -его instead. The possessive pronoun мой also changes to моего in the genitive case.
How do you pronounce the -его ending in моего and старшего?
The letter г in the genitive adjective and pronoun endings -ого and -его is a special exception and is always pronounced like a в (the English 'v' sound). So, моего sounds like 'ma-ye-vo' and старшего sounds like 'star-she-va'.
How does the sentence say 'of' without using a preposition?
In Russian, possession and the English word 'of' are expressed directly through the word endings using the genitive case. By changing the nominative мой старший брат to the genitive моего старшего брата, it automatically translates to 'of my older brother'. No extra little word is needed.
Since фотография is a feminine noun, why does the sentence start with the neuter word Это instead of Эта?
When you use Это to mean 'This is...' to introduce a new object or person, it acts as a fixed pronoun and always stays in the neuter form, no matter what gender the following noun is. You only use the feminine Эта when 'this' acts as an adjective directly pointing out a specific noun, as in Эта фотография... (This photo...).
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