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
немой
mute; silent (film)
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?
No, you would not use it for a room. Немой literally means "mute" or "unable to speak." Russian uses this specific word for silent films (немое кино). If you want to describe a quiet or silent place, you would use the word тихий (quiet).
Why does the word for music change to музыкой?
The preposition с, when meaning "with" (as in "accompanied by"), always requires the following noun to be in the instrumental case. The feminine noun музыка drops its -а and takes the feminine instrumental ending -ой.
Learn Мы смотрели немое кино с музыкой 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