Breakdown of Почему блогеры не понимают этих спортсменов?
не
not
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
понимать
to understand
почему
why
блогер
blogger
спортсмен
athlete
Questions & Answers about Почему блогеры не понимают этих спортсменов?
Why is the direct object этих спортсменов instead of эти спортсмены?
The verb понимают (understand) takes a direct object in the Accusative case. Because athletes are alive (animate), their plural Accusative form borrows from the Genitive plural. Therefore, эти спортсмены becomes этих спортсменов.
Bloggers are also alive! Why is it блогеры and not блогеров?
The bloggers are the subject of the sentence (they are the ones doing the action), so блогеры stays in the basic Nominative case. The animate rule only changes the word's ending when it is in the Accusative case, acting as the direct object.
Does the word for "these" always change to этих when it is the direct object?
Only if the noun it points to is animate! If the bloggers didn't understand "these rules" (inanimate), it would just be эти правила, looking exactly like the Nominative. But because athletes are animate, the modifier must match the noun and take the Genitive-looking form этих.
I remember learning that adding не can make the object take the Genitive case. Is that what is happening here?
That is a great guess, but no. While the "Genitive of Negation" is a real rule in Russian, этих спортсменов here is actually in the Accusative case. It just looks exactly like the Genitive because of the animate plural rule. You would use this exact same form even if the sentence was positive.
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