Question 1

How exactly is the word слушая formed?

Accepted Answer

Слушая is an imperfective verbal adverb, which translates to "while listening." To form it, you take the present tense "they" form of the verb (слушают), drop the final -ут or -ют, and add -я (or -а after certain letters like ж, ш, ч, щ). So here, слуша(ют) + я gives us слушая.

Question 2

Could I use слушая if someone else was reading the subtitles while I listened?

Accepted Answer

No. A strict rule in Russian is that the verbal adverb (the -я word) and the main verb must have the same subject. In this sentence, я (I) is performing both actions: listening and reading. If you are listening but someone else is reading, you cannot use this form; you must use a standard clause like Когда я слушаю... (When I listen...).

Question 3

Why doesn't the ending of аудио change? Isn't it the direct object of "listening"?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it is the direct object and technically in the accusative case here. However, аудио is a borrowed foreign word ending in a vowel. In Russian, such nouns are "indeclinable," meaning their spelling never changes regardless of the case or number they are in.

Question 4

Is the comma after аудио strictly necessary?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. In Russian punctuation, a phrase built around a verbal adverb (called a деепричастный оборот) must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. This is true whether the phrase is at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the sentence.

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