Breakdown of Он смотрит, но ничего не замечает.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
но
but
ничего
nothing
замечать
to notice
Questions & Answers about Он смотрит, но ничего не замечает.
Why does the Russian sentence use both ничего and не?
In Russian, double negatives are required. When you use a negative pronoun like ничего (nothing) or никто (nobody), you must also put не (not) right before the verb. So, 'He notices nothing' translates literally to 'He nothing not notices' (Он ничего не замечает).
Why is the word for 'nothing' spelled ничего instead of ничто?
Ничто is the Nominative form, used mostly when 'nothing' is the subject of the sentence. Here, 'nothing' is the direct object (the thing being noticed). When a direct object is used with a negative verb, Russian uses the Genitive case, which changes ничто into ничего.
Both смотрит and замечает are in the 'he' form, so why does one end in -ит and the other in -ет?
They belong to different verb conjugation groups. Смотреть (to look) is a Type 2 verb, which uses -и- endings like смотрит. Замечать (to notice) is a Type 1 verb, which uses -е- endings like замечает.
Could I use не видит (does not see) instead of не замечает (does not notice) here?
You could, and the sentence would mean 'He looks, but sees nothing' (Он смотрит, но ничего не видит). However, замечает emphasizes that he isn't paying attention or mentally registering details, whereas видит is just about the physical ability to see.
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