Breakdown of Мы делаем это по-нашему.
это
this / it is
мы
we
делать
to do
по-нашему
in our opinion / our way
Questions & Answers about Мы делаем это по-нашему.
Why does по-нашему have a hyphen, and what ending is -ему?
The prefix по- combined with the dative case ending -ему (from the possessive pronoun наш) turns the pronoun into an adverb. There is a strict spelling rule in Russian: when the prefix по- attaches to words to create an adverb ending in -ому, -ему, or -и, you must use a hyphen.
Could по-нашему also mean "in our opinion" in this sentence?
While по-нашему frequently means "in our opinion" (just as по-моему means "in my opinion"), the action verb делаем (we are doing) makes it an adverb of manner here. You are physically doing it "in our style" or "our way." If you instead started a sentence with По-нашему, это..., it would mean "In our opinion, this is..."
Why doesn't it end in -и like the word по-русски?
Adverbs like по-русски or по-английски are formed from adjectives ending in -ский. Possessive pronouns like наш, ваш, мой, and твой do not end in -ский, so they take their standard dative case endings (-ему or -ому) when combining with the по- prefix.
Could I literally translate "our way" and say ?