Learn Hardcore Russian: Тест сложный.

Тест is a noun. In Russian, nouns ending in a consonant are almost always masculine. It follows the pattern of inanimate masculine nouns (like стол, дом), so here тест is masculine, singular, nominative.

Why isn’t there a word for “is” in Тест сложный?

In Russian, the present-tense copula быть (“to be”) is dropped. So Тест сложный literally reads “Test difficult,” but it means “The test is difficult.”

Why does сложный end in -ый, and what case/number/gender is it?

Сложный is an adjective in the masculine nominative singular form, agreeing with тест (a masculine noun in nominative singular). The ending -ый marks that agreement.

How do I pronounce and stress тест сложный?

Stress falls on the first syllable of both words:

ТЕст [tʲest]
СЛОжный [ˈsloʐnɨj]

What’s the nuance between сложный, трудный, and тяжёлый?

• сложный – “complex,” “complicated” (things with many parts or steps)
• трудный – “difficult,” “hard” (requiring effort or skill)
• тяжёлый – “heavy” (physically heavy) or metaphorically “burdensome”

E.g.
– сложный тест (a test with tricky, multi-step questions)
– трудный экзамен (an exam that demands a lot of preparation)
– тяжёлый рюкзак (a physically heavy backpack)

How do I turn Тест сложный into a question?

You have two main options:
1) Intonation only: Тест сложный? (raise your voice at the end)
2) Add the particle ли: Сложный ли тест?

Both mean “Is the test difficult?”

How do I say “This test is difficult”?

Insert the demonstrative этот and keep the adjective agreeing in gender/number/case:
Этот тест сложный.

Can you show me the other cases for тест?

Here’s the singular declension of тест (inanimate masculine):
• Nominative (who?/what?) – тест
• Genitive (of whom?/of what?) – теста
• Dative (to whom?/to what?) – тесту
• Accusative (whom?/what?) – тест
• Instrumental (with whom?/with what?) – тестом
• Prepositional (about whom?/about what?) – в тесте