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Questions & Answers about Как назвать эту статью?
Why is there no 'we should' or 'should we' in the Russian sentence?
In Russian, you can use an infinitive verb like назвать by itself in a question to ask for advice or suggest an action. It translates to 'What should we...' or 'What am I to...'. So, Как назвать? literally means 'How to name?' but functionally acts as 'What should we call it?'.
Why does the Russian sentence use Как (how) when the English translation says 'What'?
In English, we ask 'What should we call this?'. However, in Russian, the verb назвать (to name or to call) requires the question word как (how). You are literally asking 'How should we name this article?'.
We previously learned звать for names, like in Как вас зовут?. Why use назвать here?
Звать is imperfective and is used for what someone or something is generally called on an ongoing basis. Назвать is perfective and refers to the specific, completed action of giving a name or title to something, which is exactly what you are trying to do right now with this article.
Why is the article written as эту статью instead of the dictionary form эта статья?
The phrase эта статья (this article) is the direct object receiving the action of the verb назвать, so it must be in the accusative case. For feminine nouns and modifiers ending in -я and -а, the endings change to -ю and -у, making it эту статью.