Questions & Answers about У нижних окон темно.
Why does the adjective нижних end in -их instead of -ых?
The preposition у (by/near) requires the genitive case. Here we need the genitive plural to say "by the lower windows". The dictionary form is нижний (lower). Because it is a soft-stem adjective, its plural endings use и instead of ы. Therefore, the genitive plural takes the -их ending instead of the standard hard-stem -ых.
I learned that у means "someone has". Why does it mean "by" in this sentence?
The preposition у followed by the genitive case basically means "by", "at", or "near" a physical place. The structure you learned for possession, like у меня есть (I have), is actually a special use of this exact same preposition, literally translating to "by me there is". In this sentence, у is simply being used for its physical location meaning.
What is the base form of окон, and why does it have an extra "о" in the middle?
The base word is the neuter noun окно (window). After у, we need the genitive plural. Normally, neuter nouns drop their final vowel in the genitive plural, leaving just the stem. But dropping the -о from окно leaves a hard-to-pronounce cluster of consonants (окн). To make it easier to say, Russian inserts a fleeting vowel (о) between them, resulting in окон.
Why does this sentence use темно instead of an adjective like тёмный?
Темно is an impersonal word describing the general environment, meaning "it is dark." Because there is no specific noun acting as the subject (for example, it doesn't say "the room is dark"), Russian uses this adverb-like form ending in -о to describe the overall condition of the surroundings.
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