Breakdown of Этот студент изучает китайские диалекты.
студент
student (m)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
изучать
to study
китайский
Chinese
диалект
dialect
Questions & Answers about Этот студент изучает китайские диалекты.
Why does this sentence use изучает instead of учит or учится?
The verb изучать is used when you are seriously studying a specific subject, academic discipline, or major, which requires a direct object. Учиться is used to say where or how someone studies (like at a university, or studying well), and cannot take a direct object. Учить is usually for memorizing smaller things, like vocabulary words, rules, or a poem.
What case is китайские диалекты in this sentence?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb изучает (it is the thing the student is studying). Because диалект (dialect) is an inanimate noun, its plural accusative form китайские диалекты looks exactly the same as its nominative plural form.
Does студент just mean any student?
In Russian, студент specifically refers to a university or college student. If this were a younger student in elementary or high school, you would use ученик or школьник. Studying dialects is a specialized academic topic, so it makes perfect sense that this is a university student!
Why is it этот and not эта or это?
The word этот means this and must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies. Since студент is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case (because it is the subject of the sentence), we use the masculine singular form этот.
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