Breakdown of Они часто ревнуют друг друга.
они
they
часто
often
друг друга
each other
ревновать
to be jealous
Questions & Answers about Они часто ревнуют друг друга.
Why is there no preposition before друг друга to mean "of" each other?
In Russian, the verb ревновать (to be jealous of) is transitive, meaning it takes a direct object. You don't need a preposition to translate "of"; you simply put the person being targeted by the jealousy directly into the accusative case.
Wait, if друг друга is in the accusative case here, why does it end in -а like the genitive case?
Because it refers to people! Remember the animacy rule: for animate nouns (people and animals) in the masculine or plural, the accusative case changes to look exactly like the genitive case. Since the base word is masculine, the second half of друг друга gets the animate accusative ending -а.
Why does ревнуют have a -у- in the middle?
This verb comes from the infinitive ревновать. As a quick refresher on B1 verbs: verbs ending in -овать or -евать drop that suffix and replace it with -у- when conjugated in the present or future tense. So, ревновать becomes они ревнуют.
Could I use завидуют here instead of ревнуют to mean "jealous"?
Only if you want to completely change the meaning! English uses "jealous" for two different feelings. Ревновать is for romantic or possessive jealousy (e.g., worrying a partner will cheat). Завидовать is used for envy (e.g., wanting someone else's car or job). This sentence implies they are romantically jealous of one another.
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