Breakdown of Эта девчонка бегает быстрее мальчиков.
мальчик
boy
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
быстро
fast, quickly
бегать
to run (multidirectional)
девчонка
the girl, the chick (informal) (f)
Questions & Answers about Эта девчонка бегает быстрее мальчиков.
The translation says "That girl", but the sentence uses Эта (This). Why not Та?
In Russian, эта (this) is often used where English uses "that" to refer to someone present in the immediate context or just mentioned. Та (that) is generally reserved for emphasizing physical distance ("that one over there, not this one") or contrasting two different things.
What is the difference between девчонка and девочка?
Девчонка is a colloquial, slightly more expressive or informal word for a girl, whereas девочка is the standard, neutral word for a female child. Depending on the speaker's tone, девчонка can sound affectionate, playful, or mildly dismissive.
Since this lesson covers the colloquial truncated vocative, how would I use it with девчонка to call out to her?
To call out to her informally using the truncated vocative, you drop the final vowel of the word, making it Девчонк! However, in this specific sentence, the girl is the subject performing the action, so the word stays in the regular nominative case (эта девчонка).
Why is мальчиков in the genitive case instead of using чем (than)?
When making a direct comparison, Russian allows you to drop the word чем (than) and simply put the noun being compared against into the genitive case. So, быстрее мальчиков means exactly the same as быстрее, чем мальчики, but it is more concise and extremely common in everyday speech.
Learn Эта девчонка бегает быстрее мальчиков 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