Word
Мой сосед — ужасный зануда, так как он ничем не увлекается.
Meaning
My neighbor is a terrible bore, since he is not interested in anything.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Мой сосед — ужасный зануда, так как он ничем не увлекается.
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
мой
my (мой, моя, моё) / mine
сосед
neighbor
Questions & Answers about Мой сосед — ужасный зануда, так как он ничем не увлекается.
Why is it ужасный зануда (masculine adjective) when зануда ends in -а like a feminine noun?
Зануда (a bore) is a common gender noun (общий род). These nouns usually end in -а or -я and describe a person's character traits. They take masculine or feminine adjectives depending on the actual gender of the person they describe. Since it refers to сосед (a male neighbor), the adjective ужасный must be masculine. If it were a female neighbor (соседка), it would be ужасная зануда.
Why is there a dash between сосед and ужасный зануда?
In Russian, when both the subject (сосед) and the predicate noun (зануда) are in the nominative case, you must use a dash in the present tense to replace the omitted verb to be (is).
Why is the word for nothing (ничем) in the instrumental case here?
The verb увлекаться (to be interested in or passionate about) always governs the instrumental case. Because he is interested in nothing, the negative pronoun ничто must be put into the instrumental case, becoming ничем.
Why does the sentence use both ничем and не?