Question 1

Why is it в нашей больнице instead of в нашу больницу?

Accepted Answer

We use the preposition в with the Prepositional case here because it describes a static location (where the surgeon works). Наша больница is feminine, so it changes to нашей больнице. If the sentence were about going to the hospital, we would use the Accusative case (в нашу больницу).

Question 2

If the surgeon is a woman, does Этот хирург change to Эта хирург?

Accepted Answer

No, the noun хирург is masculine regardless of the doctor's actual gender, so the pointing word stays masculine (Этот хирург). However, if you were talking in the past tense, the verb would often match the person's biological gender in everyday speech (for example, Этот хирург работала...).

Question 3

Why does the г at the end of хирург sound like a к when spoken?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, voiced consonants like г become devoiced (sound like their unvoiced counterparts, in this case, к) when they appear at the very end of a word. If you add an ending, like the Genitive case ending for 'The surgeon has...' (У хирурга...), the г regains its hard 'g' sound because it is no longer at the end of the word.

Этот хирург работает в нашей больнице.

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