Breakdown of Твой брат — такой жадина, он никогда не делится игрушками.
брат
brother
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
твой
your [informal] (твой, твоя, твоё)
игрушка
toy
никогда
never
такой
such / so / what ... is
делиться
to share
жадина
greedy person
Questions & Answers about Твой брат — такой жадина, он никогда не делится игрушками.
Why do we use the masculine такой with жадина when the noun ends in -а?
Жадина (greedy person) is a common gender noun (общий род). These nouns usually end in -а or -я, but they take masculine agreement when referring to a male and feminine agreement when referring to a female. Since it refers to брат (brother), we use the masculine такой. If it were about a sister, it would be такая жадина.
Why is there a dash (—) after брат?
In Russian, when both the subject (брат) and the predicate describing it (жадина) are nouns or noun phrases in the nominative case, a dash is used in the present tense to stand in for the omitted verb to be.
Why is игрушками (toys) in the instrumental case?
The reflexive verb делиться (to share) requires the instrumental case for the object being shared. You can think of it literally as sharing with toys.
Why do we need both никогда and не?
Russian strictly uses double negation. When you use a negative adverb like никогда (never) or a negative pronoun, you must also place the negative particle не right before the verb.
Learn Твой брат — такой жадина, он никогда не делится игрушками and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free