Breakdown of Мне сказали, что этот рыбак работает в порту.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
работать
to work
в
in / to (direction)
мне
to me
сказать
to tell, to say
что
that (conjunction)
рыбак
fisherman
порт
port
Questions & Answers about Мне сказали, что этот рыбак работает в порту.
Why is it в порту instead of the regular Prepositional ending в порте?
The word порт belongs to a special group of short, masculine nouns that take a stressed -у ending when describing a physical location. When paired with the prepositions в (in) or на (on) to say where something is, you must use в порту.
If I want to say "We talked about the port," do I still use порту?
No, you would use the standard Prepositional ending -е: Мы говорили о порте. The special -у ending is strictly used for location (answering the question "where?"), not when you are just talking about the object.
The English translation says "They told me," but there is no word for "they" (они) in the Russian sentence. Why?
Starting with Мне сказали (literally "To me told") is a common Russian way to say "I was told" or "People told me." By dropping the subject они, the sentence shifts focus completely onto the action and the person receiving the information (мне), rather than who exactly did the telling.
Is рыбак related to the word рыба (fish)?
Yes! Рыба means "fish", and adding the suffix -ак turns it into рыбак (fisherman). You will often see this and similar suffixes used to describe people by their professions or defining activities.
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