Breakdown of Мама жарит рыбу, ей нужна сковорода.
мама
mom
рыба
fish
ей
to her
нужен
needed (short form)
жарить
to fry
сковорода
frying pan
Questions & Answers about Мама жарит рыбу, ей нужна сковорода.
Why is нужна in the feminine form here?
The short adjective нужен agrees with the thing that is needed, not the person who needs it. Since сковорода (frying pan) is a feminine noun, we must use the feminine form нужна.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with ей instead of она?
In Russian, constructions expressing need (using нужен) require the logical subject (the person who needs something) to be in the dative case. So, она (she) becomes ей (to her). The structure literally translates to "to her is necessary a frying pan."
Why is it рыбу instead of рыба?
Рыба (fish) is the direct object of the verb жарить (to fry), which means it must be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -а, the accusative ending changes to -у.
What is the infinitive form of жарит?
The infinitive is жарить (to fry). It is a standard second-conjugation verb, which is why the third-person singular form (for Mom) ends in -ит.
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