Breakdown of Северяне любят сильный мороз и снег.
и
and
любить
to love, to like
сильный
strong
снег
snow
мороз
frost
северянин
northerner
Questions & Answers about Северяне любят сильный мороз и снег.
Why is the plural of северянин (northerner) северяне rather than северянины?
Nouns for nationalities or groups ending in -анин or -янин in the singular drop the -ин when forming the plural. Instead of adding a standard plural -ы or -и, they add -е. Therefore, северянин becomes северяне.
What would the accusative plural of северяне look like if they were the object of the sentence?
Because северяне refers to living people, it is animate. For animate nouns, the accusative plural matches the genitive plural. Nouns ending in -яне drop the final -е to form the genitive/accusative plural, giving us северян. So if you wanted to say 'I love northerners', it would be Я люблю северян.
Why do сильный мороз and снег look like they are in the nominative case here?
They are actually in the accusative case because they are the direct objects of the verb любят (love). However, because мороз (frost) and снег (snow) are masculine and inanimate (non-living), their accusative forms look exactly the same as their nominative forms. The adjective сильный (strong) matches this pattern too.
Is there a different word to use if all the northerners are women?
Yes. The suffix -янин specifies a masculine singular person. A female northerner is северянка, and a group of all women would use the regular feminine plural северянки. But for a mixed group of men and women, Russian uses the general plural form северяне.
Learn Северяне любят сильный мороз и снег and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free