Breakdown of Мужчина, курящий сигарету, стоит на тротуаре.
мужчина
man
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
курить
to smoke
стоять
to stand
сигарета
the cigarette
тротуар
the sidewalk
Questions & Answers about Мужчина, курящий сигарету, стоит на тротуаре.
How is the participle курящий formed?
It is formed from the verb курить (to smoke). To make the active present participle, take the 'they' form of the verb in the present tense, which is курят (they smoke). Drop the final -т and add the suffix -щий.
Why does курящий have a masculine ending when мужчина ends in -а?
Although мужчина ends in -а like many feminine nouns, its grammatical gender is masculine because it refers to a male person. Participles act like adjectives and must agree with the noun they modify in gender, case, and number, so курящий takes the masculine nominative singular ending.
Why are there commas around курящий сигарету?
In Russian, when a participle phrase (a participle and the extra words that belong to it) comes directly after the noun it modifies, it must be set off by commas. If the phrase came before the noun, as in Курящий сигарету мужчина стоит на тротуаре, no commas would be needed.
Why is сигарету in the accusative case?
Participles keep the grammatical properties of the verbs they come from. Because the active verb takes a direct object in the accusative case (курить сигарету), the participle курящий requires the exact same case for its object.
Is стоит the verb for 'stands' or 'costs' here?
Context tells us the man is standing, so this is from стоять (to stand). B1 learners often mix this up with стоить (to cost) because their 'he/she/it' forms look exactly the same in writing. In spoken Russian, you can hear the difference through word stress: стои́т means 'stands' and сто́ит means 'costs'.
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