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Questions & Answers about Дом довольно современный.
Why doesn’t the sentence include a verb meaning “is”?
In Russian, the present‐tense copula быть (“to be”) is normally omitted. So “Дом довольно современный.” literally reads “House quite modern,” and the “is” is implied.
Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before дом?
Russian has no definite or indefinite articles. Whether дом means “a house” or “the house” depends entirely on context.
Why does современный end in -ый?
Adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. Here дом is masculine singular in the nominative case, so the adjective takes the standard masculine nominative ending -ый (or -ий after certain consonants).
What does довольно mean, and why is it used here instead of очень?
Довольно is an adverb meaning “quite,” “fairly,” or “rather.” It softens the statement—you’re saying the house is reasonably or quite modern, not necessarily extremely modern. Очень means “very” or “extremely,” which would be a stronger emphasis (Дом очень современный).
Can I move довольно after современный, like “Дом современный довольно”?
No. In Russian, degree‐modifying adverbs (довольно, очень, слишком) normally precede the adjective they modify. Putting довольно after современный would sound very awkward or ungrammatical.
Why didn’t we use the short‐form adjective современен instead of современный?
Short‐form adjectives (e.g. современен) can serve as predicates but don’t combine with degree modifiers like довольно. When you want to say “quite modern,” you need the full form современный.
Where do you put the stress in each word?
- Дом is monosyllabic: [dom]
- Довольно: stress on the second syllable – do-VOL’-no ([dɐˈvolnə])
- Современный: stress on the third syllable – so-vrye-MEN-ny ([səvrʲɪˈmʲennɨj])
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