Breakdown of Мой сад самый большой в городе.
мой
my
в
in
город
the city
сад
the garden
самый большой
the biggest
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Questions & Answers about Мой сад самый большой в городе.
Why is мой in the masculine form here?
In Russian, possessive pronouns (мой, моя, моё, мои) must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. Since сад is a masculine noun in the nominative singular (it’s the subject of the sentence), we use the masculine singular nominative form мой.
What role does самый play in самый большой, and how do you form superlatives in Russian?
The word самый is used to create the superlative degree of adjectives. To form a superlative, you place самый before the adjective in its positive (base) form. Thus самый большой literally means “the most big,” i.e. “the biggest.”
Why are самый and большой in the nominative case here?
Because самый большой serves as the nominal predicate describing the subject мой сад, it must agree with the subject’s case. Since сад is in the nominative case, both самый and большой also appear in the nominative masculine singular.
Why is в городе used, and why is городе in the prepositional case?
The preposition в with a noun in the prepositional case indicates a static location (“in the city”). Therefore, город changes to городе (prepositional singular) to show where the garden is largest.
Why don’t we use a comparative form like больше… чем here?
A comparative structure such as больше… чем (“bigger than…”) is used when you compare two specific items (e.g., Мой сад больше, чем сад Анны). Here, we’re comparing my garden to all other gardens in the city at once, which requires the superlative самый большой.
Is Мой сад больше всех в городе also correct? How is it different?
Yes. Мой сад больше всех в городе literally means “My garden is bigger than everyone in the city” (implying “all other gardens”). It’s a colloquial way to form a superlative. Самый большой is more direct and standard in literary Russian.
Can the word order change? For example, Самый большой в городе мой сад?
Russian word order is relatively flexible for emphasis or style. Самый большой в городе мой сад foregrounds the superlative and sounds more poetic or emphatic. The neutral, everyday order is Мой сад самый большой в городе.
Do we need a dash between сад and самый? When is it used?
You can optionally insert a dash—Мой сад — самый большой в городе—to mark the pause between the subject and a nominal predicate (here есть “is” is implied). The dash is a stylistic choice and is common when linking two noun phrases; omitting it in informal writing is also acceptable.