Breakdown of Этот школьник читает книгу.
книга
book
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
читать
to read
школьник
schoolboy, pupil
Questions & Answers about Этот школьник читает книгу.
Why is the word for "this" Этот here, and not Эта or Это?
Этот is the masculine form of "this". In Russian, words like "this" must match the gender of the noun they point to. Since школьник (schoolboy or pupil) is a masculine noun, we use Этот.
The translation says "is reading", so why isn't there a separate Russian word for "is"?
Russian doesn't have a separate continuous tense (like "is reading" versus "reads"). The single verb читает can mean either "reads" or "is reading" depending on the situation. You don't need a helper word for "is" here.
Why does the verb читает end in -ет?
The basic dictionary form of the verb is читать (to read). Because the subject of the sentence is a "he" (школьник), we drop the -ть and add the "he/she/it" ending, which is -ет.
Why is it книгу instead of the dictionary form книга?
The pupil is reading a book, which makes the book the direct object (the thing receiving the action). In Russian grammar, when a feminine noun ends in -а (like книга), that ending changes to -у when it is the direct object. This is called the accusative case.