Breakdown of Эта птица не живёт в дупле, она строит гнездо.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
птица
bird
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
строить
to build
жить
to live
в
in / to (direction)
дупло
tree hollow
гнездо
nest
Questions & Answers about Эта птица не живёт в дупле, она строит гнездо.
Since this lesson is about irregular prepositional endings, why is it в дупле and not в дуплу?
The irregular stressed -у ending in the prepositional case is only for a specific small group of masculine nouns (like лес becoming в лесу). The word дупло (tree hollow) is a neuter noun, so it follows the normal rule and takes an -е ending.
Why is the bird referred to as она? Shouldn't an animal be "it"?
In Russian, pronouns always match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. Since птица (bird) is a feminine noun, it requires the feminine pronoun она, even if we translate it as "it" in English.
Why is the verb ending строит instead of строет?
The dictionary form of the verb is строить (to build). Because it ends in -ить, it follows the second conjugation pattern. This means it uses an -и- in its endings rather than an -е-, making the "it" form строит.
What case is гнездо (nest) in here? It looks exactly like the dictionary form.
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object (the thing being built). For inanimate neuter nouns like гнездо, the accusative form is identical to the nominative (dictionary) form.
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