Breakdown of Журналисты часто встречают этих певиц.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
часто
often
встречать
to meet
журналист
journalist
певица
singer (f)
Questions & Answers about Журналисты часто встречают этих певиц.
Why is it этих певиц instead of the regular plural эти певицы?
In Russian, when a plural noun is the direct object (Accusative case) and refers to living people or animals (animate), it takes the exact same form as the Genitive plural. Since singers are alive, the object takes the Genitive plural form этих певиц.
How do we get the spelling певиц from the singular word певица?
For most feminine nouns ending in -а, the Genitive plural (which we use here because the noun is animate) is formed by dropping the -а. This leaves the word with no ending at all. So, певица drops the last letter to become певиц.
Why does the word for 'these' change to этих?
Pointing words like эти (these) must match the noun they describe. Because the animate noun певиц is borrowing the Genitive plural form, the word эти must also take its Genitive plural form, which is этих.
Why do we use the imperfective verb встречают here?
The adverb часто (often) tells us this is a repeated, habitual action. In Russian, repeated actions always require imperfective verbs. If they were going to meet them just once, you would use the perfective verb instead.
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