Breakdown of Почему у него странная манера говорить и сильный акцент?
и
and
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
говорить
to speak, to talk
почему
why
у
at, by
сильный
strong
странный
strange
акцент
accent
манера
manner
Questions & Answers about Почему у него странная манера говорить и сильный акцент?
Why is есть omitted here, since we are saying he 'has' an accent?
While у него есть is the standard way to say 'he has', Russian typically drops есть when describing inherent physical characteristics, abstract features, or conditions. Because a strange manner of speaking and a strong accent are inseparable features of the person rather than physical objects he owns, есть is naturally omitted.
Why is the infinitive говорить used directly after the noun манера?
In Russian, you can attach an infinitive directly to certain abstract nouns to describe their content or purpose, translating to 'of speaking' or 'to speak' in English. Nouns like манера (manner), привычка (habit), and способность (ability) frequently pair directly with an infinitive this way.
Why are странная манера and сильный акцент in the Nominative case?
As a quick refresher, in the Russian possession construction (у кого-то [есть] что-то), the thing possessed is actually the grammatical subject of the sentence. Literally, this translates to 'Why at him [is] a strange manner and strong accent?', so these nouns must remain in the Nominative case.
This lesson is about судя по (judging by). How could I use that to answer this question?
You can use судя по followed by the Dative case to make an educated guess based on the evidence in the sentence. For example, you might answer: Судя по его акценту, он иностранец (Judging by his accent, he is a foreigner).
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