Word
Никто не знает, где плавает этот пловец.
Meaning
No one knows where this swimmer swims.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Никто не знает, где плавает этот пловец.
не
not
где
where / wherever
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
знать
to know
Questions & Answers about Никто не знает, где плавает этот пловец.
Why do we use плавает instead of плывёт here?
Плавать is the multidirectional verb for swimming. We use it here because the sentence is talking about swimming as a general activity, a habit, or swimming around in various directions. If we used плывёт, it would mean the swimmer is currently swimming toward one specific destination.
Why is there a не after никто? Doesn't никто already mean "no one"?
Russian uses double negatives. Whenever you use a negative word like никто (no one), никогда (never), or ничего (nothing), you must also make the verb negative by adding не. It literally reads as "No one doesn't know."
Is the word пловец related to the verbs for swimming?
Yes! Пловец (swimmer) shares the same root as плавать and плыть. The vowel shifts to an "о" here, which is a common pattern in Russian when creating nouns from verbs.
Why is there a comma before где?
In Russian grammar, a comma is strictly required to separate clauses. Because где плавает этот пловец has its own subject (пловец) and verb (плавает), it forms a subordinate clause and must be split from the main phrase (Никто не знает) with a comma.