Questions & Answers about Это песня о любви.
Why do we use это when песня is a feminine noun? Shouldn't it be эта?
When introducing what something is ("This is a..."), you always use the fixed neuter pronoun это, no matter the gender of the noun that follows. You would only use эта if it were directly modifying the noun, as in the phrase эта песня (this song).
What case is the word любви in, and why?
It is in the prepositional case because it follows the preposition о, which means "about" in this context.
The dictionary form of the word for love is любовь. Why does it become любви here instead of "любови"?
The word любовь has what is called a "fleeting vowel." When you add case endings to it, the о in the final syllable drops out. Therefore, it becomes любви in the prepositional case.
Любовь is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign. How do its case endings compare to irregular nouns like мать and дочь?
They belong to the same noun group (feminine nouns ending in a soft sign), meaning their endings are exactly the same! In the prepositional, dative, and genitive cases, they all end in -и: о любви, о матери, о дочери. The only difference is what happens to their stems: мать and дочь add an -ер- before the ending, while любовь drops its о.
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