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Questions & Answers about Это интересный случай.
What part of speech is это and why is it used here?
это is a neuter demonstrative pronoun meaning “this.” In sentences like Это интересный случай, it functions as the subject (or dummy subject) in place of a more specific noun. In English you’d say “This is an interesting case,” but Russian drops the copular verb “is” in the present tense.
Why is there no verb “is” in Это интересный случай?
In Russian, the present‐tense copula to be (быть) is usually omitted. The meaning “is” is understood implicitly. So Это интересный случай literally reads “This interesting case,” with “is” supplied by context.
Why is интересный in the masculine form?
Adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. Here, случай is a masculine, singular noun in the nominative case, so the adjective takes the nominative masculine singular form интересный.
What case is случай, and how can I tell?
случай is in the nominative singular case because it is the subject of the sentence and answers the question “who?” or “what?” (какой случай?). There are no prepositions or verbs requiring a different case, so it stays in nominative.
How do I pronounce Это интересный случай and where are the stresses?