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- "Мои полотенца здесь."
28 Comments
Вот is used in "Here is .."/ "Here are .." sentences when you "show" an object to a listener.
Здесь (or тут, won't matter) means literally "here". This place.
For neuter nouns it is normal. It is «яблоки» which does not follow the pattern:
- яйцо́ → я́йца
- окно́ → о́кна
- полоте́нце → полоте́нца
- мо́ре → моря́
- о́блако → облака́
(eggs, windows, towels, seas and clouds respectively)
Note the Ц in полотенце; it forces а instead of я. It also forces the word to end in Е because spelling rules require that only Е, not О, can follow Ц if the syllable is not stressed.
Truth be told, I do not remember half of the combinations these rules prescribe at all. It all comes with experience. There is the way to optimise it, though:
- the rule about КГХ + ЖШЩЧ is the most important for a beginner, especially for К. Девочки, мальчики, кошки.... So many plurals to get wrong
- remember that for velars (К, Г, Х) these rules are phonological and affect pronuncaition. If you remember how the word is pronounced, trust your ears
- remember that for Ш, Ж, Щ, Ч, Ц the rules are just a historical spelling convention. Their palatalization is set in stone, so жя, шя, щя would be pronounced the same as жа, ша, ща — there is literally no other sound they can make.
- memorize a word to illustrate the spelling of a certain combination. For Ц, I think, яйцо́ (egg) and се́рдце (heart) will work
It is полотенце. Neuter nouns regularly produce а (or я) ending plurals. Яблоко is an exception, as are neuter or neuter-looking diminutives produced with -к- (e.g. окно→окошко, кольцо→колечко, зерно→зёрнышко, полотенце→полотенчико, место→местечко)
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I also put that following the rule that the "old" or known information goes first and the "new" or most important information goes last...
This complexity makes me feel like tossing the towel ;-( But your brains and dedication to helping those slower ones are MOST encouragi.g and appreciated! LINGOTS 2 U!!!
Мое полотенце здесь.
'a towel' in Russian is neuter (the ending -е) so it takes neuter pronoun 'my' (with the ending -е)
Other, e.g. мое ухо 'my ear', мое яблоко 'my apple', мое море 'my sea'
how do you know its plural, cause i know about the bi (russian lettering, english keybord) but what about when its not there
The plural ending depends on word's original ending; it's not always +ы/-ы. If you Google it, I'm sure you can find a chart listing the endings for you
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Why didn't the ending of towel change to '-и'? When would i use яблока for a plural and not яблоки. (It seems off topic but the answer will help me out)
Easy. Яблоко is the exception in Russian (but in Ukrainian, the plural is indeed яблука).
This also happens for the majority of neuter and neuter-looking diminutive nouns produced with -ко, e.g. яблочко, городишко, окошко, ушко, домишко, колечко and even очко (but not облачко). They have -и in the plural; by the way, they are masculine if the original word is masculine.
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I saw that info, I guess I'm stuck on this: Duolingo was using яблоки in sentences w multiple objects, it that just for genitive case, maybe? 'У меня есть хлеб, яблоки, тарелки.'
Those are all Nominative plural.
The plural of яблоко in Russian is яблоки
The plurals of окно, яйцо, лицо, облако, ведро, зеркало, море, здание, решение are окна, яйца, лица, облака́, вёдра, зеркала́, моря́, здания, решения respectively. They all end in /a/.
Ok wait, I never saw it specify whether the singular "towel" ends with the е or а....
The plural of полотенце is полотенца (same as окно→окна, яйцо→яйца, море→моря, only the stress is fixed).
