Сок был сладким и освежающим в жаркий день.

The juice was sweet and refreshing on a hot day.

Breakdown of Сок был сладким и освежающим в жаркий день.

• сладкий: sweet
• день: the day
• быть: to be
• и: and
• жаркий: hot
• сок: the juice
• освежающий: refreshing
• в: on

Questions & Answers about Сок был сладким и освежающим в жаркий день.

What grammatical role do the adjectives сладким and освежающим play, and why are they in the instrumental case?

In this sentence, сладким (sweet) and освежающим (refreshing) function as predicate adjectives describing the subject сок (juice). In Russian, when using the past (or future) tense forms of the verb быть (to be), adjectives that follow it are usually placed in the instrumental case. This case indicates that these qualities are being attributed to the juice during that specific time and context.

Why is the linking verb был used here, and how does it compare to English?

The verb был is the past tense form of быть (to be) and corresponds to “was” in English. In Russian, the copular verb is omitted in the present tense but must be used in the past and future tenses. Here, был connects the subject сок with its predicate adjectives, showing that the juice "was sweet and refreshing" on that hot day.

How do the adjectives agree with the subject in this sentence?

The subject сок is a masculine singular noun. Both adjectives, сладким and освежающим, are in the masculine singular instrumental form. This agreement ensures that the adjectives correctly describe the subject according to Russian grammar rules, especially when used with the verb был.

What does the phrase в жаркий день mean, and why is жаркий not in the instrumental case?

The phrase в жаркий день translates as “on a hot day.” In this context, the preposition в is used to indicate a time frame. The noun день is in the accusative case, which is standard for time expressions with в when indicating when something happens. The adjective жаркий appears in its accusative masculine singular form; for inanimate nouns like день, the accusative form is identical to the nominative. Hence, there is no need for the instrumental form in this particular phrase.

Why are the adjectives сладким and освежающим connected with и, and what does this coordination signify?

The conjunction и (and) is used to coordinate the adjectives, linking them together to jointly describe the qualities of the juice. This coordination indicates that the juice possessed both qualities simultaneously. The structure emphasizes that on that hot day, the juice wasn’t just sweet or just refreshing—it had both appealing characteristics.