"Whose fly is it?"

Translation: Чья это муха?

[John495488]

This is an odd sentence. O_o

[Smike77]

Nothing odd, it's my fly ;-)

[thebilllee]

Why can't it be "Чья муха это?"

[scottled1]

My selection too. Word order "doesn't matter" except when it does. Not helpful in learning this language.

[Ann55075]

it always does :)

[mmm1995]

Why not 'eta' to agree with gender? It's not an 'eto' revealing information, right?

[deactivated user]

> It's not an 'eto' revealing information, right?

It is. This course assumes you choose the closest variant, so:

• Чья э́то му́ха? = Whose fly is it?
• Чья э́та му́ха? = Whose is this fly?

[mmm1995]

Thanks! I was thinking along the lines of 'чей, чья, чьё, чьи' = 'to whom belongs' and thought a demonstrative adjective must follow to agree with noun. Found my clarification: http://www.russianforeveryone.com/Rufe/Lessons/Course1/Grammar/GramUnit3/GramUnit3_2.htm

[TakakoKumagai]

Должен ли я следовать за моими мухами?

[Emperor_Tux]

Whose fly is it anyway?

[its_._kivi]

Mine, back off

[Jennifer_P]

Help me! Heeeelp meeee!

[CarlAgren]

too late

[TakakoKumagai]

Что ваша проблема

[margiebee]

When on earth would you say this? In a laboratory after coffee break?

[rajneeshku586691]

When we point it should be эта ( feminine) . Why is it это ?

[John267006]

I'm mostly through the questions section and still have not figured out when to use Чей versus чья. Any hints?

[Ann55075]

that depends on the grammatical gender like my/your/our
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ru/Possessive-Modifiers-1/tips-and-notes
sometimes you must just remember it - like we russians have to remember that in English ship is "she" and fox is "he" But you at last can consult the dictionary! *-)

[DAUzHappy]

...извечная русская проблема-ничейные мухи

[Anna652529]

This can be "Чья муха это"!

[aatay626142]

My favourite fly which burns when revolving around lamb)

[MadDanEccles1492]

Эта муха моя. Пойдите, получите свое. Бедный маленький Элмер ...

[Agmemnon]

Shouldn't "Whose" be in the accusative: Чью instead of the nominative чья ?

The answer to the question would be in the accusative after all.

[deactivated user]

The answer would be in nominative («Му́ха моя́.» ‘The fly is mine’) or genitive («Му́ха Андре́я» ‘The fly is Andrew’s’).

[z04Y1]

Guys it is really stupid in russian :)

[TheMilesto1]

So you use different forms, like чья or чей depending on the following noun?

[VilemSobotka]

Моя

[MartinMcGa7]

So would "Whose fly is this?" be different?

[margiebee]

It would be more inspiring to have realistic sentences.