Breakdown of У него интересное хобби.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
интересный
interesting
хобби
hobby
Questions & Answers about У него интересное хобби.
Why does the sentence start with 'У него' instead of a word for 'he'?
In Russian, to express possession, we do not usually use a verb for 'to have'. Instead, we use the preposition У (meaning 'by' or 'at'), followed by the person, and then the thing they possess. So, У него literally means 'At him [is]'.
Why is the letter 'г' in 'него' pronounced like a 'v'?
This is a special pronunciation rule in Russian. In the endings of adjectives and pronouns in the genitive case (like -его or -ого), the letter г is pronounced as a 'v' sound. So, него is pronounced 'nevo'.
I learned the word for 'his/him' is 'его'. Why is there an 'н' at the beginning of 'него' here?
Whenever a third-person pronoun (like он for 'he' or они for 'they') comes directly after a preposition (like У), Russian adds an н- to the beginning of the pronoun to make it flow better. That is why его becomes него after У.
Why does the adjective 'интересное' end in '-ое'?
Does the word 'хобби' change its ending if it is used in different grammatical roles?
No. The word хобби is borrowed from English. In Russian, many borrowed foreign nouns that end in vowels like -и, -о, or -е (such as такси or кафе) are indeclinable. This means they never change their endings!
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