Breakdown of Гагарина называют нашей гордостью. Ты знаешь его биографию?
ты
you (singular)
наш
our
знать
to know
его
his / its (possessive)
называть
to call (by name)
Гагарин
Gagarin
гордость
pride
биография
biography
Questions & Answers about Гагарина называют нашей гордостью. Ты знаешь его биографию?
Why is the surname written as Гагарина instead of just Гагарин?
Гагарин is the direct object of the verb называют (they call), so it must be in the accusative case. Because he is a male person (animate), Russian surnames ending in -ин or -ов take the genitive ending -а for the accusative case, making it Гагарина.
Why is there no subject like они (they) before называют?
In Russian, you can leave out the pronoun они to make a general statement. Using just the third-person plural verb называют is the standard way to say "people call [him]" or "[he] is called," focusing on the action rather than who exactly is doing the calling.
Why is the phrase for "our pride" (нашей гордостью) in the instrumental case?
The verb называть (to call) requires a specific case pattern: the person being called something is in the accusative case (here, Гагарина), and the word for what they are called takes the instrumental case (нашей гордостью).
Why doesn't его change its ending to match the accusative noun биографию?
Его is a third-person possessive pronoun meaning "his." Unlike words like мой (my) or наш (our), the pronouns его (his), её (hers), and их (theirs) are frozen and never change their endings, no matter what case the following noun is in.
Learn Гагарина называют нашей гордостью. Ты знаешь его биографию and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free