Сахар — вредный продукт.

Sugar is a harmful product.

Breakdown of Сахар — вредный продукт.

• продукт: the product
• сахар: the sugar
• вредный: harmful

Questions & Answers about Сахар — вредный продукт.

Which cases are used here, and why are both sides in the nominative?

Both Сахар and вредный продукт are in the nominative case. In present‑tense equational sentences (X is Y), Russian drops the verb быть (to be) and keeps both the subject and the nominal predicate in the nominative. In the past or future, the predicate usually switches to the instrumental: Сахар был/будет вредным продуктом.

Why is there a dash?

The dash marks the missing present‑tense быть and the pause between the subject and the nominal predicate. It’s standard (and often required) when both parts are nouns or a noun phrase: Сахар — вредный продукт. It’s a dash (тире), not a hyphen.

Can I add это or есть?

• Сахар — это вредный продукт is very common and perfectly natural; это helps make the classification explicit.
• Writing Сахар это вредный продукт without the dash appears in casual text, but edited Russian prefers the dash.
• Сахар есть вредный продукт sounds bookish/old‑fashioned; you’ll mainly see есть in formal definitions or for special emphasis.

Why is it вредный (masculine) and not вредная or вредное?

Because вредный agrees with продукт, which is a masculine noun. Change the head noun and the adjective changes too: вредная еда (fem.), вредное вещество (neut.), вредные продукты (plur.).

Can I say Сахар вреден instead? What’s the difference?

Yes. Сахар вреден uses the short‑form adjective to state a property (“Sugar is harmful”). Сахар — вредный продукт classifies sugar as a harmful kind of food item. A very idiomatic variant is Сахар вреден для здоровья (“Sugar is harmful to health”).

Is Сахар вредный grammatical?

It’s grammatical but colloquial/elliptical. In careful writing, prefer Сахар вреден or keep the full noun phrase Сахар — вредный продукт. You may also see Сахар — вредный (with a dash), which is more acceptable than the bare form without a dash.

What exactly does продукт mean here?

Here продукт means a food product/foodstuff. In everyday Russian, the plural продукты commonly means “groceries/food” (e.g., магазин продуктов = grocery store).

How does this sentence change in the past or future?

Use быть and put the predicate in the instrumental:

• Past: Сахар был вредным продуктом.
• Future: Сахар будет вредным продуктом. A formal present‑tense alternative is Сахар является вредным продуктом, which also takes the instrumental.

Can I flip the order to Вредный продукт — сахар?

You can, but it changes the focus: it highlights сахар as the specific item in question (“The harmful product is sugar”), often used in contrast or after context has been established. The neutral, generic statement is Сахар — вредный продукт.

How do I negate this naturally?

• Сахар — не вредный продукт.
• Сахар не вреден. For “harmless,” use безвреден/безвредный: Сахар безвреден. Avoid невредный for foods; it’s rare here and not the usual opposite of вредный in this context.

Any pronunciation/stress tips?

• Stress: Са́хар — вре́дный проду́кт.
• х = voiceless “kh” (like in Bach).
• р is trilled.
• ы in вредный is the central vowel [ɨ].
• In проду́кт, the stress is on у; the first о reduces.

Do Russians use any article-like word for “a harmful product”?

Russian has no articles. Indefiniteness is understood from context. Это in Сахар — это вредный продукт is not an article; it’s a linking pronoun/particle used to make the classification explicit, not the word “this.”

Can I swap продукт for another noun and keep the grammar?

Yes; just adjust the adjective to agree:

• Сахар — вредное вещество. (neuter)
• Сахар — вредный ингредиент. (masculine)
• Сахар — вредный углевод. (masculine)

What’s the difference between the dash — and a hyphen -, and do I need spaces?

Here you need an em dash (тире) with spaces on both sides: Сахар — вредный продукт. A hyphen (дефис) joins parts inside a single word (e.g., русско‑английский), not subject and predicate.

Why not say вредящий продукт?

Russian normally uses the adjective вредный to express a general harmful property. The participle вредящий (“harming”) sounds technical or implies an ongoing action, which isn’t what you want in a general statement about sugar.