Breakdown of Продавец и покупатель говорят.
и
and
говорить
to speak, to talk
продавец
shop assistant, seller
покупатель
buyer, customer
Questions & Answers about Продавец и покупатель говорят.
Why does the translation use "are talking" when говорят usually means "speak"?
Russian does not have a separate continuous tense like English does with "are talking" or "is speaking". The single present tense verb говорят covers both general facts (they speak) and actions happening right now (they are talking). You figure out which one is meant from the context of the conversation.
The word покупатель ends in a soft sign. How do I know if it is masculine or feminine?
Why doesn't the letter 'o' in говорят sound like a clear "oh"?
In Russian, the letter 'o' is only pronounced as a strong "oh" sound when the syllable is stressed. In говорят, the stress falls on the final letter я. Because the two 'o' letters are unstressed, they are reduced and sound much more like the short "a" in the English word "about".
Are the nouns продавец and покупатель related to any common verbs?
Yes! Just like "buyer" comes from "buy" in English, покупатель comes from the verb покупать (to buy). Similarly, продавец comes from the verb продавать (to sell). Noticing these word families makes it much easier to build your vocabulary at the beginner level.
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