Questions & Answers about Ребёнок боится пауков и змей.
Why are the words for spiders (пауков) and snakes (змей) in the Genitive case here?
The verb бояться (to be afraid of) requires the thing you fear to be in the Genitive case, not the Accusative. This is a strict rule for several Russian verbs expressing fear, desire, or expectation.
How do we form the Genitive plural for паук (spider)?
Паук is a masculine noun ending in a hard consonant. For most masculine nouns of this type, you add -ов to the end to make the Genitive plural, resulting in пауков.
Why does the Genitive plural of змея (snake) look like it lost a letter to become змей?
Змея is a feminine noun. To form the Genitive plural, feminine nouns typically drop their final vowel. When the -я is dropped, the 'y' sound that was hiding inside that vowel is written out explicitly as -й, which gives us змей.
I sometimes mix up the spelling of reflexive verbs. Why is there no soft sign (ь) in боится?