Questions & Answers about Я спрашиваю прохожего о больнице.
Why does the noun for passerby (прохожего) have an adjective ending?
Прохожий is a substantivized adjective. This means it acts like a noun (a passerby) but declines completely like an adjective. Because a passerby is a living person (animate), its accusative case takes the genitive masculine adjective ending -его.
How do I know if прохожего is in the accusative or genitive case here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb спрашиваю (I am asking). For animate masculine nouns and adjectives, the accusative form matches the genitive form, which is why we see the -его ending rather than the inanimate -ий ending.
Why is it о больнице instead of just using the accusative case for the hospital?
When you ask someone about something in Russian, you use the preposition о (or об) plus the prepositional case. Since we are asking about the hospital, the feminine noun больница changes to its prepositional form, больнице.
Does the word прохожий share a root with verbs I might already know?
Yes! It shares a root with the verb проходить (to pass by or go through). It literally translates to a passing or walking person. Recognizing these verb roots helps explain why words like this describe a quality and therefore decline like adjectives.