Breakdown of Я часто пользуюсь этой синей ручкой.
я
I
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
синий
dark blue
ручка
pen
часто
often
пользоваться
to use
Questions & Answers about Я часто пользуюсь этой синей ручкой.
Why is этой синей ручкой in the instrumental case when there is no word for 'with' in the English translation?
The verb пользоваться (to use) always requires the object being used to be in the instrumental case. You can think of the Russian phrasing literally as 'I make use with this blue pen.'
What is the dictionary form of этой and how is it formed in the instrumental?
The dictionary form is этот (this), and its feminine singular form is эта. In the instrumental case, эта changes to этой. You might recognize this exact spelling from earlier lessons: этой is also used for the feminine genitive, dative, and prepositional cases!
Why does синей end in -ей instead of matching the -ой ending of the noun ручкой?
Синий (blue) is a 'soft-stem' adjective. In the feminine instrumental case, standard hard-stem adjectives take -ой (like новой ручкой), but soft-stem adjectives take -ей (синей ручкой).
Why does the verb пользуюсь look so different from its infinitive пользоваться?
Verbs ending in -овать or -оваться drop the -ова- part and replace it with -у- in the present tense. First, пользоваться becomes пользу-. Then we add the 'I' ending -ю, and finally the reflexive suffix -сь (which is used after vowels), giving us пользуюсь.
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