Breakdown of Город изменяется каждый год.
город
city
год
year
каждый
every
изменяться
to change (intransitive)
Questions & Answers about Город изменяется каждый год.
Why does the verb изменяется have the reflexive -ся ending here?
The non-reflexive verb изменять means to change something else (it takes a direct object). By adding the reflexive -ся, the verb becomes passive or intransitive. Here, it shows that the city is undergoing the change itself (or "is being changed"), rather than the city changing something else.
Why do we use the imperfective form изменяется rather than a perfective verb?
The phrase каждый год (every year) tells us this is a repeated, habitual action. Russian uses imperfective verbs for recurring events. A perfective verb like изменится would imply a single, completed action in the future (the city will change).
What case is каждый год in, and why?
It is in the accusative case. In Russian, phrases that express how often an action happens (like "every year" or "every day") take the accusative case. Because год is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary (nominative) form.
How should I pronounce the -тся ending in изменяется?
Whenever a Russian verb ends in -тся or -ться, those letters combine to make a "tsa" sound, exactly like the Russian letter ц. So, you should pronounce the end of the word as if it were written изменяеца.
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