Learn Hardcore Russian: Этот бюджет слишком маленький.

этот is a demonstrative pronoun (or determiner) meaning this. It agrees in gender (masculine), number (singular), and case (nominative) with бюджет, specifying which budget you’re talking about.

Why is бюджет in the nominative case?

Because бюджет is the subject of the sentence – it’s what the statement is about. In Russian, the subject typically appears in the nominative case.

How does the adjective маленький agree with бюджет?

In Russian, adjectives must match the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case. Since бюджет is masculine, singular, and nominative, маленький takes the masculine singular nominative ending -ий.

What is the function of слишком and why is it placed before маленький?

слишком is an adverb meaning too or excessively. It modifies the adjective маленький to show that the budget is not just small but too small. Adverbs in Russian normally precede the adjectives they modify.

Can you replace слишком with очень? What changes in meaning if you do?

You can say очень маленький to mean very small, which expresses a high degree of smallness. But слишком маленький means too small, implying the budget is insufficient or unacceptable for your needs.

Is этот always necessary, or can you omit it?

You can omit этот if context makes it clear which budget you mean. Saying Бюджет слишком маленький still works and means The budget is too small. этот is only needed when you want to emphasize this particular budget.

What are some other words you could use instead of маленький to describe a small budget?

Depending on nuance, you might choose:
• небольшой – not big (neutral)
• скудный – meager (emphasizes lack)
• незначительный – insignificant (formal)
• крошечный – tiny (colloquial/emphatic)