Breakdown of Вот старое письмо, автора которого я ищу.
я
I
старый
old
письмо
letter
искать
to look for
автор
author
вот
here is, there is
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Вот старое письмо, автора которого я ищу.
Why do we say автора которого instead of которого автора for "whose author"?
In Russian, when you use the Genitive form of который to mean "whose" (literally "of which"), it normally goes after the noun it possesses. Instead of saying "whose author", Russian phrasing literally says "the author of which" (автора которого).
How do I know to use the form которого here?
который must match the gender and number of the noun it refers back to from the first part of the sentence. Here, it refers to письмо (letter), which is neuter singular. Because it means "of the letter", we need the Genitive case. The neuter Genitive form is которого.
Why is автор changed to автора? Is that also the Genitive case?
It looks exactly like the Genitive case, but it is actually the Accusative case here! The word автора is the direct object of the verb ищу (I am looking for). Because an author is animate (a living person), its Accusative ending matches its Genitive ending.
What is the infinitive of the verb ищу?
The infinitive is искать (to look for, to search). It has a consonant change in the present tense where ск turns into щ: я ищу, ты ищешь, он ищет.
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