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- "Это змея?"
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How would you mispell змея/snake in Russian to make it the equivalent of "snek"? Змя? (Nomimative) Змю? (Locative)
Isn't змея a specific snake species? In czech, we call like that - I think - viper.
Yes, since змея is a feminine noun, "this snake" would be эта змея. In this sentence, это is a demonstrative pronoun not a demonstrative adjective.
Here is a more thorough explanation: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/11536858
Спасибо! I couldn't figure out why, "Is this a snake?" was wrong, and it was making me crazy.
Thank you, mightypotatoe! This was my question. I couldn't figure why sometimes they wanted эта for "woman" or "bed" or "snake", and other times это. You rock!
Yes; "Это змея?" is asking if the object in question is a snake. "эта змея" states that the object in question is "this snake" and not another snake. If you were to ask which snake it is, it would be "Эта змея?"
Almost, but in "Это змея?" you would emphasize "змея," or 'snake'. In "Эта змея?" you would emphasize "Эта," or 'this.'
This is no longer confusing, when you put it that way! Good explanation. Thanks so much.
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Might require either это or switching word order (Змея это?) if you want to be specific.
I think this is because the stress is on the last syllable - the "я". Unstressed "е" sounds like "и".
I wrote "this snake" for "Это змея" and it was marked wrong. Since there are no articles in Russian, A) why is my answer wrong? and B) how would you say "this snake"?, maybe at a pet store for example??
"This snake" would be "эта змея", because "змея" is feminine and "this" (unlike "this is") has to agree with the noun in grammatical gender.
[Zme'ja]. [Z'meja] is not correct. И почему нет вопросительной интонации? Это предложение звучит как утверждение, а нужно как вопрос. То есть в конце предложения нужно повысить тон, тогда это будет звучать как вопрос.
