Questions & Answers about В зоопарке мы видели много зверей.
Why does the word for animals end in -ей here (зверей)?
This is the genitive plural of the noun зверь (wild animal or beast). Words denoting quantity, like много (a lot), require the noun that follows them to be in the genitive case. Because зверь ends in a soft sign (-ь), it takes the -ей ending in the genitive plural.
I usually see животное for "animal". Why use зверей here?
While животное is the general word for any animal, зверь usually refers to a wild animal or beast. It is a very natural choice when talking about the wild creatures you go to see at a zoo.
Why is it в зоопарке and not на зоопарке?
For most enclosed spaces and institutions, Russian uses the preposition в (in or at) to show location. A zoo is considered a defined, enclosed territory, so we use в along with the prepositional case ending -е.
What is the dictionary form of видели?
The dictionary form is видеть (to see). Because the subject of the sentence is мы (we), the verb takes the plural past tense ending -ли to match.