Breakdown of Фотографии лебедей очень красивые.
красивый
beautiful
очень
very
фотография
photograph
лебедь
swan
Questions & Answers about Фотографии лебедей очень красивые.
Why does лебедей end in -ей?
Лебедей is the genitive plural of лебедь (swan). Because the nominative singular ends in a soft sign (-ь), the genitive plural ending becomes -ей. This rule applies to nouns ending in a soft sign regardless of their gender.
Is лебедь a masculine or feminine noun?
It is a masculine noun. While many Russian nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) are feminine (like тетрадь), лебедь is masculine (like день). Fortunately, when forming the genitive plural, it doesn't matter: both masculine and feminine nouns ending in -ь take the -ей ending.
How do we know to use the genitive case for лебедей here?
We use the genitive case to connect two nouns to show what something is made of, belongs to, or is about. This usually translates to "of" in English. Here, фотографии лебедей literally means "photographs of swans".
Why is the adjective красивые in the nominative plural instead of matching the genitive лебедей?
An adjective must match the noun it describes. In this sentence, it is the photographs that are beautiful. Since the subject фотографии is in the nominative plural, красивые must also be in the nominative plural. If you wanted to say "Photographs of beautiful swans", you would change the adjective to match the swans instead: фотографии красивых лебедей.
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