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Questions & Answers about Дождь продолжается.
Why does the verb продолжается have a -ся at the end?
The ending -ся is used here to show that the action is happening on its own (intransitive). The base verb продолжать means "to continue something" (like a person continuing a story). Because the rain isn't continuing an object, but rather just continuing itself, it needs the -ся ending.
Дождь ends in a soft sign (-ь). How do I know its gender?
Дождь (rain) is a masculine noun. Nouns ending in a soft sign can be either masculine or feminine, so you just have to memorize the gender for each new word you learn. Here, it is the subject of the sentence, so it is in the nominative case.
Is продолжается imperfective or perfective?
It is imperfective. The sentence describes a process that is currently ongoing in the present, which always requires an imperfective verb. Its perfective pair is продолжиться, which cannot be used in the present tense.
How is the -тся ending pronounced in продолжается?
Even though it is spelled with -тся, the ending is pronounced like -ца (-tsa). Whenever a verb ends in -тся (the he/she/it present tense form) or -ться (the infinitive), the т and с merge to make a single "ts" sound.