Breakdown of Мы смотрели немое кино с музыкой.
мы
we
музыка
music
смотреть
to watch / to look at / make sure (in a warning)
кино
cinema
Questions & Answers about Мы смотрели немое кино с музыкой.
Why is the imperfective verb смотрели used here instead of the perfective посмотрели?
Both are grammatically correct, but they have different focuses. Смотрели emphasizes the process or the activity itself (we were watching or we spent time watching). If you used посмотрели, it would emphasize the completed action or the final result (we finished watching).
Why does the adjective немое end in -ое? Isn't it the direct object?
Yes, it is the direct object, which means it must be in the accusative case. Кино is an inanimate neuter noun. For inanimate neuter nouns, the accusative case is identical to the nominative (dictionary) form, so the adjective takes the standard neuter accusative ending -ое.
Wait, why doesn't the ending of кино change in the accusative case?
Кино is a borrowed foreign word, and in Russian, most borrowed nouns ending in -о, -е, -и, or -у are indeclinable. This means кино never changes its ending, regardless of its grammatical case or whether it is singular or plural. You have to rely on surrounding words like немое to figure out its role in the sentence!
Does немое just mean "silent"? Can I use it to describe a silent room?