Learn Hardcore Russian: Движение в городе медленное.

The sentence consists of a subject, a prepositional phrase, and a predicate adjective. Движение is the subject. В городе is a prepositional phrase indicating location, and медленное is the predicate adjective describing the subject. Note that there’s no explicit verb like “is”—in Russian’s present tense, the copula is typically omitted.

Why is there no verb equivalent to “is” in this sentence?

In Russian, the present tense form of the verb “to be” (есть) is usually left out. This omission is standard practice when stating characteristics or conditions. So instead of saying “Движение в городе есть медленное,” it is both grammatically correct and more natural to say “Движение в городе медленное.”

Why is the adjective медленное in the form it appears?

The adjective медленное is in the neuter nominative singular form. It agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun движение, which is a neuter noun. Adjectives in Russian change their endings to reflect these grammatical features of the noun they modify.

What role does the prepositional phrase в городе play, and how is it constructed?

The phrase в городе indicates where the movement takes place. The preposition в means “in,” and it requires the noun город to be in the prepositional case, which changes город to городе. This construction shows the location, a common pattern in Russian when specifying where an action or state occurs.