Breakdown of Спасатель ни о чём не думает, потому что у него сильная жажда.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
думать
to think
потому что
because
о
about (о, об, обо)
у
at, by
сильный
strong
ничто
nothing (nominative)
спасатель
rescuer
жажда
thirst
Questions & Answers about Спасатель ни о чём не думает, потому что у него сильная жажда.
Why is it three words (ни о чём) instead of just putting the preposition before the word for 'nothing'?
When negative pronouns like ничто (nothing) or никто (nobody) are used with a preposition, the preposition pushes its way right into the middle! Instead of saying о ничём, it splits into ни + о + чём (the prepositional case of что).
Why is there a не before думает if the sentence already says 'about nothing'?
Russian requires double negatives. Whenever you use a negative pronoun like ни о чём, you must also make the verb negative by putting не in front of it. So literally, this says 'The rescuer about nothing does not think'.
Why does the word for 'his/him' have an 'н' at the beginning in у него?
This is the standard 'to have' construction in Russian (у + genitive case). As a quick refresher, when third-person pronouns (like его, её, их) directly follow a preposition, Russian adds an 'н' to the beginning to make them easier to pronounce. So его becomes него.
What case is сильная жажда (strong thirst) in here?
It is in the nominative case (the dictionary form). In the Russian 'to have' structure (у меня, у него, etc.), the thing being possessed is grammatically the subject of the sentence. Literally, the second half of the sentence translates to 'because by him [is] a strong thirst'.
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