Learn Hardcore Russian: У этого супа очень приятный вкус.

The preposition у in Russian indicates possession or “having” something and always takes the genitive case. So у этого супа literally means “at this soup” but functions as “this soup has…” or “there is for this soup…” in English.

Why is этого супа in the genitive case?

Because у requires the genitive. The noun суп (“soup”) becomes супа, and its modifier этот becomes этого to agree in case, number, and gender.

What is a more literal translation of У этого супа очень приятный вкус?

Literally, “At this soup [there is] a very pleasant taste.” A natural English equivalent is “This soup has a very pleasant taste.”

Why use приятный вкус instead of just saying вкусный суп?

These two express slightly different nuances:

приятный вкус (“pleasant taste”) focuses on the character of the taste itself.
вкусный суп (“tasty soup”) simply states the soup is tasty overall. You choose приятный вкус when you want to emphasize how the taste feels or appeals to you.

Can I say Этот суп очень приятный to mean the same thing?

Not quite. Этот суп очень приятный is grammatically correct but vague—it means “This soup is very pleasant” and doesn’t specify pleasant in what way (smell? texture? taste?). To talk about taste, you’d need на вкус (“to taste”) or use вкусный:

Этот суп очень приятен на вкус.
Этот суп очень вкусный.

Why is очень placed before приятный rather than before вкус?

In Russian, degree adverbs like очень (“very”) directly modify adjectives or adverbs. Here очень intensifies приятный (“pleasant”), so it goes immediately before that adjective. If you wanted to stress the noun вкус, you could say вкус очень приятный, but that slightly shifts the emphasis.

Could I rearrange the word order in this sentence?

Yes—Russian is quite flexible. All of the following are correct, though they carry subtle shifts in focus:

У этого супа вкус очень приятный. (emphasizes the taste)
Очень приятный вкус у этого супа. (emphasizes how pleasant it is)
Этот суп имеет очень приятный вкус. (explicitly uses the verb “to have”)

How are супа and приятный stressed when speaking?

супа́: stress on the first syllable of супа́ (sú-pa).
при́ятный: stress on the second syllable (pri-YAT-ny).
Putting them together: У э́того су́па о́чень при́ятный вкус.