Breakdown of Учёный изучает местный диалект и его произношение.
и
and
изучать
to study
учёный
scientist, scholar
местный
local
Questions & Answers about Учёный изучает местный диалект и его произношение.
Why do we use изучает here instead of учит or учится?
Изучать (which becomes изучает here) is used when talking about the deep, academic study or research of a specific subject—in this case, a dialect. You would use учить for memorizing things (like a list of words) and учиться to say where or how someone studies (like at a university or studying well).
What case is местный диалект in after the verb?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb (the thing being studied). However, because диалект is a masculine, inanimate (non-living) noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary (nominative) form.
Why does the word for scholar, учёный, have an adjective ending?
Учёный is a word that started as an adjective meaning "learned" but is now used as a noun to mean "scholar" or "scientist". Because of its origins, it changes its endings exactly like an adjective rather than a standard noun.
Его usually means "his". Why does it translate to "its" in его произношение?
In Russian, possessive words depend on the grammatical gender of the noun they refer back to, not whether it is a person or a thing. Диалект is a masculine noun, so we use the masculine possessive его to mean "its".