Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Город был красивым и большим.
Why are красивым and большим in the instrumental case rather than the nominative in the sentence "Город был красивым и большим"?
In Russian, predicate adjectives following a copular verb like был (the past tense of быть, meaning "to be") are typically put in the instrumental case. This case expresses the state or quality attributed to the subject, which in this sentence is город (city).
How is the instrumental form of adjectives like красивый and большой constructed for masculine singular nouns?
For masculine singular adjectives ending in -ый (as in красивый and большой), the nominative ending changes to -ым in the instrumental case. Thus, красивый becomes красивым and большой becomes большим when used as predicate adjectives with a linking verb.
Why does the subject город remain in the nominative case while the adjectives are in the instrumental?
In Russian, the subject of a sentence always appears in the nominative case. The instrumental case is reserved for predicate complements after a linking verb. In this example, город is the subject, so it stays in the nominative, whereas красивым and большим describe its state and thus take the instrumental case.
What is the role of the linking verb был in this sentence?
The word был is the past tense of быть (to be) and serves as a linking verb (copula). It connects the subject город to its predicate adjectives красивым и большим, establishing a relationship that describes the city’s qualities or state.
Would the adjectives still be in the instrumental case if the sentence were in the present tense?
No, in the present tense, the verb быть is typically omitted in Russian, so the predicate adjectives usually appear in the nominative case. The sentence would then become "Город красив и большой," with both adjectives reflecting the nominative form, which is standard for present-tense statements.