Breakdown of В январе начинаются каникулы, и мы не работаем.
и
and
не
not
мы
we
работать
to work
в
on / during (a time period)
начинаться
to begin (of an event)
январь
January
каникулы
holidays
Questions & Answers about В январе начинаются каникулы, и мы не работаем.
How do we form "in January" from the dictionary word январь?
To say "in a month", Russian uses the preposition в followed by the Prepositional case. The word январь is masculine and ends in a soft sign (-ь). To make it Prepositional, we replace the -ь with -е, giving us в январе.
Why is the verb начинаются in the plural form?
Because its subject is каникулы (vacation or holidays). In Russian, каникулы is a "plural-only" word, much like "scissors" or "glasses" in English. Since the noun is always plural, the verb must match it!
What does the -ся at the end of начинаются do?
It makes the verb reflexive. The base verb начинать means "to start (something)", like a teacher starting a lesson. By adding -ся, it means the subject is starting on its own, without a direct object. Since the holidays are simply starting, we use the reflexive начинаются.
Is it normal to put the verb before the subject, like in начинаются каникулы?
Yes, Russian word order is very flexible! Placing the verb before the subject is a common way to set the scene and introduce new information. It puts a little more focus on the fact that the holidays are what begin. Saying каникулы начинаются would also be perfectly correct.
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