Breakdown of Это очевидный фейк, но доверчивые пользователи его распространяют.
это
this / it is
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
но
but
пользователь
user
очевидный
obvious
фейк
fake news
распространять
to spread
доверчивый
gullible
Questions & Answers about Это очевидный фейк, но доверчивые пользователи его распространяют.
фейк is clearly an English loanword. Does it decline like a regular Russian noun, or is it indeclinable?
It declines perfectly like a standard masculine noun ending in a consonant, just like парк or банк. In this sentence, it is in the nominative case. If you wanted to say 'I don't see the fake,' you would use the genitive: Я не вижу фейка.
I see the root for 'belief' or 'trust' in доверчивые. How exactly is this word built?
It comes from the verb доверять (to trust). The suffix -чив- is used to form adjectives that describe a tendency or disposition to do something. So доверчивый literally means 'having a tendency to trust,' which translates nicely to 'gullible' or 'overly trusting'.
Why is the object pronoun его placed before the verb (его распространяют) instead of after it?
In Russian, unstressed object pronouns like его naturally gravitate toward the middle of the clause, usually landing right before the verb. Placing it after the verb (распространяют его) is not grammatically wrong, but putting it before the verb makes the sentence flow much more naturally in everyday speech.
Since this lesson is about evidential particles, how would adding якобы change the first half of this sentence?
If you wrote Это якобы очевидный фейк, you would be casting doubt on the statement itself. It changes the meaning from a stated fact ('This is an obvious fake') to an alleged claim: 'This is allegedly an obvious fake' or 'People claim it is an obvious fake (but I am not so sure)'.
How could I use the particle мол to show what the gullible users are saying when they spread this?
You could add a clause right at the end: ...распространяют его, мол, это правда (...spread it, saying 'it is the truth'). The particle мол acts as a casual quotation marker, perfectly signaling that you are paraphrasing the users' mindset or words without needing a formal phrase like 'they say'.
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