Breakdown of Послушная собака не лает на гостей и всегда откликается на своё имя.
и
and
не
not
собака
dog
всегда
always
на
on, at / by (transport) / to (a place) / to (in answer to)
гость
guest
свой
one's own
имя
name
лаять
to bark
откликаться
to respond
послушный
obedient
Questions & Answers about Послушная собака не лает на гостей и всегда откликается на своё имя.
Why do we use своё instead of её to mean "its" here?
When a possessive pronoun refers back to the subject of the same clause (here, собака), Russian requires the reflexive possessive свой. If you used её, it would mean the dog is responding to some other female's or dog's name!
Why does лает на гостей use the accusative case rather than dative or prepositional?
The verb лаять (to bark) is followed by the preposition на plus the accusative case to show the target or direction of the barking. Because гость (guest) is an animate noun, its accusative plural form гостей looks exactly like its genitive plural.
Does откликаться always take на + accusative?
Yes, when specifying what is being responded to. Verbs of answering and responding in Russian typically use на + accusative. You probably already know this pattern from отвечать на (to answer a question), and it applies here to откликаться на (to respond to a name or a call).
How is the word послушная (obedient) built?
It shares a root with слушать (to listen). Just like in English, the concept of obedience in Russian is built directly on the idea of "listening" to someone. You will also see this in the verb слушаться (to obey).
Why does имя look like it's in the nominative case after на?
It is actually in the accusative case, which is the case required by на for this verb. Имя is one of the ten special neuter nouns ending in -мя. Because it is neuter and inanimate, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form.
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