Breakdown of Где тот изобретатель, который хотел строить новый город?
где
where / wherever
город
city
новый
new
строить
to build
хотеть
to want
тот
that
изобретатель
inventor
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Где тот изобретатель, который хотел строить новый город?
Why does который end in -ый in this sentence?
Который changes its ending to match the noun it replaces—in this case, изобретатель (inventor). Since изобретатель is a masculine, singular noun, we use the masculine singular form который. Also, because "who" is the subject doing the wanting in the second half of the sentence, it stays in the Nominative case.
Is тот strictly necessary, or could we just say Где изобретатель...?
You could leave it out, but using тот (that) is very common in Russian when you are about to define someone or something with a который clause. Since Russian doesn't have the word "the", тот helps point specifically to "that particular inventor" you are looking for.
The word изобретатель ends in a soft sign (-ь). How can I easily tell if it's masculine or feminine?
By looking at the words connected to it! In this sentence, the pointing word тот, the relative pronoun который, and the past-tense verb хотел are all in their masculine forms. Also, as a helpful rule of thumb, Russian nouns ending in -тель that describe professions or doers of an action are almost always masculine.
What case is новый город, and why don't its endings change?
It is in the Accusative case, because it is the direct object being built. However, for masculine, inanimate (non-living) nouns like город, the Accusative case looks exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form. The adjective новый follows the same rule, so it also keeps its dictionary spelling.
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