Breakdown of Этот парень — ужасный выскочка, он всегда спорит.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
всегда
always
спорить
to argue
парень
young man, boyfriend
ужасный
terrible
выскочка
show-off
Questions & Answers about Этот парень — ужасный выскочка, он всегда спорит.
Why is the adjective ужасный in the masculine form if the noun выскочка ends in -а?
The word выскочка is a common gender noun. This means it can act as either masculine or feminine depending on who it refers to. Since it describes a male here (парень), it triggers masculine agreement, so we use the masculine adjective ужасный.
How would this sentence change if we were talking about a girl?
The noun выскочка itself would not change spelling at all, but the words agreeing with it would become feminine. You would say: Эта девушка — ужасная выскочка, она всегда спорит.
Where does the word выскочка come from?
It derives from the verb выскочить, which means to jump out or pop up. A выскочка is literally someone who is always jumping up to be noticed, like an upstart, a know-it-all, or a student who constantly interrupts to show they know the answer.
Why is there a dash (—) after парень?
The dash takes the place of the present-tense verb to be (is). As a reminder from earlier lessons, when both the subject (парень) and the predicate noun identifying it (выскочка) are in the nominative case, you need to separate them with a dash.
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