Breakdown of Эти племена сохраняют свои священные знамёна.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
свой
one's own
священный
sacred
знамя
the banner
Questions & Answers about Эти племена сохраняют свои священные знамёна.
Both племена and знамёна end in -а here. What cases are they in?
Племена is the subject, so it is in the nominative case. Знамёна is the direct object (what is being preserved), so it is in the accusative case. For inanimate neuter nouns ending in -мя, the plural accusative form is identical to the plural nominative form.
How do we get the form племена from the singular племя?
Nouns ending in -мя add the special suffix -ен- to the root before adding plural endings. So, you drop the -я from племя, add -ен-, and then add the standard neuter plural ending -а, resulting in племена.
The singular for 'banner' is знамя. Why does the plural знамёна have an ё?
While most -мя nouns just add -ен- in the plural (like племя becoming племена), the word знамя has a stress shift. When the spoken stress falls on that inserted -ен- syllable in the plural forms, the е changes to ё.
Could I use их (their) instead of свои in this sentence?