Breakdown of Полиция подозревает, что преступник украл деньги.
деньги
money
что
that (conjunction)
полиция
police
преступник
criminal
подозревать
to suspect
украсть
to steal
Questions & Answers about Полиция подозревает, что преступник украл деньги.
I noticed a comma before что. Do we always need a comma when reporting what someone thinks or says?
Yes! In Russian, you must always put a comma before the word that introduces indirect speech, like что (that), где (where), or когда (when). In English, we often skip the comma or even drop the word 'that' entirely, but Russian is strict about separating the two parts of the sentence with a comma.
Why is the verb подозревает in the singular form when 'police' means multiple people?
In English, 'police' is treated as a plural word ('the police suspect'). However, in Russian, полиция is a singular feminine noun. Because it is grammatically singular, the verb matching it must also be in the singular form: подозревает (suspects).
Just to double-check, is что pronounced with a 'ch' or 'sh' sound here?
It is pronounced with a 'sh' sound. The word что is almost always pronounced as 'shto' in modern Russian, especially when used to mean 'what' or as the connecting word 'that' in indirect speech.
What case is the word деньги here? It looks like the dictionary form.
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object being stolen. The word деньги (money) is always plural in Russian. For inanimate plural nouns, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) case.
Why did we use the perfective past tense украл instead of the imperfective form?
You need the perfective verb украл because the police suspect a specific, completed action with a result: the money was successfully taken and is now gone. If you used the imperfective, it would sound like the criminal was just in the process of stealing it, or used to steal money regularly.
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