Breakdown of Полиция штрафует водителей, потому что они игнорируют правила.
они
they
потому что
because
правило
rule
полиция
police
водитель
driver
игнорировать
to ignore
штрафовать
to fine
Questions & Answers about Полиция штрафует водителей, потому что они игнорируют правила.
Why do the verbs штрафует and игнорируют have a -у- in them if their dictionary forms end in -овать?
Both штрафовать (to fine) and игнорировать (to ignore) belong to a special group of verbs. When you conjugate them in the present tense, the -ова- suffix drops out and is replaced by -у- (or -ю-). That is why we get штрафует (he/she/it fines) instead of "штрафовает", and игнорируют (they ignore) instead of "игнорировают".
The English translation says "The police fine" (plural), but the Russian verb штрафует is singular. Why?
In Russian, полиция is a singular feminine noun, much like "the police force" or "the police department" in English. Therefore, it takes singular verb endings, like штрафует. In English, we treat "police" as a plural noun, which is why the translation says "fine" instead of "fines".
Why is the word for drivers водителей instead of "водители"?
The police are fining the drivers, making them the direct object of the sentence. This means we need the accusative case. Because водитель (driver) is an animate noun (a living person), its accusative plural form looks exactly like its genitive plural form: водителей.
Since водителей changed for the accusative case, why doesn't правила change?
Правила (rules) is also in the accusative case because it is the direct object of игнорируют. However, правило is a neuter, inanimate noun. For inanimate nouns in the plural, the accusative case looks exactly the same as the nominative (dictionary) case. So, правила is both the nominative and accusative plural.
How do I know if a verb ending in -ать uses this -ова- to -у- rule?
Look closely at the suffix right before the -ть. If the dictionary form ends in -овать or -евать (like штрафовать and игнорировать), it almost always follows this mutation rule in the present tense. If it just ends in -ать (like делать or читать), it conjugates normally without the -у-.
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