Breakdown of Это предок, брак и смерть которого я изучаю.
это
this / it is
и
and
я
I
изучать
to study
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
предок
ancestor
брак
marriage
смерть
death
Questions & Answers about Это предок, брак и смерть которого я изучаю.
Why is которого placed after брак и смерть instead of before them like the English 'whose'?
In Russian, when который is used in the Genitive case to mean 'whose', it usually comes after the thing being possessed. Think of it less as 'whose marriage' and more like 'the marriage of whom' (брак которого).
How do we know to use the masculine singular form которого?
The pronoun который gets its gender and number from the noun it refers back to. Here, it refers to предок (ancestor), which is a masculine singular noun. It takes the Genitive case because it acts as the possessor in the second half of the sentence.
If я изучаю takes the Accusative case, why haven't брак and смерть changed their endings?
They actually are in the Accusative case, but they are inanimate nouns whose Accusative forms look identical to their dictionary forms (Nominative). Брак is a masculine inanimate noun, and смерть is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (a 3rd-declension noun). Both keep their dictionary form when used as direct objects.
Why use изучаю here instead of учу?
Изучать is used when you are researching a topic in depth or studying a specific field (like history or your ancestry). The verb учить is used more for memorizing information (like vocabulary words or a poem).
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