Breakdown of Такое красивое платье стоит дорого.
красивый
beautiful
такой
such
платье
the dress
стоить
to cost
дорого
expensive
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Questions & Answers about Такое красивое платье стоит дорого.
What does такое mean in this sentence, and why is it placed before the adjective?
Такое here works like English such or so, adding emphasis: “such a beautiful dress” or “so beautiful a dress.” In Russian, demonstrative words like такой/такое always come before descriptive adjectives, hence такое красивое платье.
Why is красивое in this specific form?
Adjectives in Russian agree with the noun they modify in gender, number and case. Платье is neuter singular, nominative case, so красивое takes the neuter singular nominative ending -ое.
Why is платье neuter, and what case is it here?
Most Russian nouns ending in -е (or -о) are neuter. Платье ends in -е, so it’s neuter. It’s in the nominative singular because it’s the subject of the verb стоит (“the dress costs…”).
Why is the verb стоит used to express “costs”? Does it require a special case?
Russian uses the intransitive verb стоить in the third person singular to talk about price: платье стоит… means “the dress costs…” When you specify a price in words, you use an adverb (e.g. дорого) or a numeral phrase (100 долларов), not a direct object.
What part of speech is дорого, and why isn’t дорогая used instead?
Дорого is an adverb meaning “expensively” or “at a high cost,” modifying the verb стоит. Дорогая would be an adjective (“expensive”) and, if used directly before платье, would turn it into a descriptive phrase дорогая платье (actually дорогое платье), meaning simply “an expensive dress.”
Could we say дорогое платье instead of платье стоит дорого? How would the meaning change?
Yes. Дорогое платье means “an expensive dress” as a noun phrase, focusing on the dress’s inherent quality. Платье стоит дорого focuses on the action of costing and can imply surprise or comment on the actual price paid or required.
How would you say “This dress doesn’t cost much” in Russian?
You can say Это платье стоит недорого or, keeping the emphasis, Такое красивое платье стоит недорого. Here недорого is the adverb “inexpensively.”
Can такое be omitted, and if so, what nuance would be lost?
Yes, you could simply say Красивое платье стоит дорого. It still means “a beautiful dress costs a lot,” but you lose the extra emphasis of “such a” or “so” beautiful that такое provides.