Breakdown of Что ты обычно советуешь твоему младшему брату?
брат
brother
ты
you (singular)
что
what
твой
your [informal] (твой, твоя, твоё)
обычно
usually
младший
younger
советовать
to advise
Questions & Answers about Что ты обычно советуешь твоему младшему брату?
Why is the phrase твоему младшему брату used instead of the dictionary form твой младший брат?
The verb советовать (to advise) requires the person receiving the advice to be in the Dative case. The advice is being directed to the brother, so the whole phrase changes to the masculine Dative form: твоему младшему брату.
What are the specific Dative endings used for твоему and младшему?
For masculine nouns in the Dative case, possessive pronouns like твой take the ending -ему, making it твоему. Adjectives normally take either -ому or -ему. Because младший (younger) ends with the hush consonant ш, it takes the softer -ему ending, becoming младшему.
Where does the у in советуешь come from? I thought the infinitive verb was советовать.
Verbs ending in -овать are special. When you conjugate them in the present tense, the -ова- part drops out and is replaced by -у- before you add the normal endings. So for the ты (you) form, it becomes совет-у-ешь.
Is the word что in the Nominative case here?
It is actually in the Accusative case because it represents the direct object, which is the thing being advised. However, for inanimate words like что, the Accusative form looks exactly the same as the Nominative dictionary form.
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