Questions & Answers about В этой корзине самые свежие помидоры и огурцы.
What case is в этой корзине, and why is it used?
в этой корзине is in the prepositional case (singular, feminine). In Russian you use the prepositional case with в or на when talking about location—answering “Где?” (Where?). So в корзине literally means “in the basket,” and этой is the prepositional form of эта (this).
Why is there no verb есть (to be/there is) in the sentence?
In Russian the present‐tense form of быть (“to be”) is almost always omitted. You could say В этой корзине есть самые свежие помидоры и огурцы, but in everyday speech you normally drop есть, leaving just В этой корзине самые свежие помидоры и огурцы.
How do you form the superlative degree, as in самые свежие?
The regular way to make a superlative in Russian is самый + adjective in positive form, agreeing in gender, number and case with the noun:
- Masculine singular: самый свежий
- Feminine singular: самая свежая
- Neuter singular: самое свежее
- Plural (all genders): самые свежие
(There is also an old‐fashioned suffix -айший that yields свежайший, but it’s quite literary or poetic.)
Why do самые and have different plural endings ( vs. )?