Breakdown of Мы узнали зверя по волчьему хвосту.
мы
we
зверь
wild animal
узнать
to find out, to learn
по
according to (also: along, by)
волчий
wolf's
хвост
tail
Questions & Answers about Мы узнали зверя по волчьему хвосту.
Why does волчьему have a soft sign (ь) in the middle instead of just dropping the -ий?
The dictionary form is the possessive adjective волчий (wolf's). When declining possessive adjectives that end in -ий, a soft sign (ь) is inserted before the vowel ending in all cases except the masculine nominative and inanimate accusative. Because it modifies the dative noun хвосту, it takes the dative masculine ending -ему, giving us the stem волчь- plus -ему.
Why is the dative case used for волчьему хвосту?
The dative case is triggered by the preposition по. When you are expressing that you recognize, judge, or identify something "by" a specific physical trait or feature, Russian uses по plus the dative case.
Why does зверь change to зверя in this sentence?
The noun зверь (beast) is the direct object of the verb узнали, so it needs to be in the accusative case. Because зверь is an animate masculine noun, its accusative form mimics its genitive form, taking the ending -я.
How does the soft sign affect the pronunciation of волчьему?
The soft sign (ь) here acts as a separator. It tells you not to soften the consonant ч directly into the vowel е, but rather to pronounce a quick "y" sound right before the vowel. This gives the middle of the word a distinct "chye" sound.
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