Breakdown of Студенты сдают работу.
студент
student (m)
работа
work, job
сдавать
to hand in; to take (an exam)
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Questions & Answers about Студенты сдают работу.
The verb сдают means 'hand in' here, but doesn't it also mean 'take an exam'?
Yes! The verb сдавать is very common in academic contexts. When used with assignments or papers like работу, it means 'to hand in'. When used with exams (экзамен), it means 'to take an exam'. Keep in mind that successfully passing an exam uses the perfective form of this verb, сдать.
Why is there a 'ю' in сдают? What is the infinitive?
The infinitive is сдавать. This verb belongs to a special group of verbs ending in -давать. When conjugating them in the present tense, you drop the -ва- suffix. So сдавать becomes я сдаю, он сдаёт, and они сдают.
Why is it работу instead of работа?
The word работу is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the sentence — it is the thing being handed in. For feminine nouns ending in -а, the ending changes to -у in the accusative case.
The English translation says 'their work', but I don't see a word for 'their' in Russian. Why?
In Russian, possessive pronouns like 'their' (свою or их) are usually left out if context makes it obvious who owns the object. Since the students are handing in work, it is naturally assumed to be their own.