Learn Hardcore Russian: Стоимость билета высокая, но такой шанс бывает редко. - The cost of the ticket is high, but such a chance is rare.

высокая – full adjective form
- More neutral, more common in modern speech:
  - Стоимость билета высокая.
высока – short adjective form
- Often sounds a bit more formal, “bookish,” or emphatic:
  - Стоимость билета высока. (slightly more literary)

Meaning is the same: The ticket price is high.
In everyday spoken Russian, высокая will sound more natural.

Why don’t we say есть: Почему не *Стоимость билета есть высокая?*

In the present tense, Russian normally omits the verb “to be” (быть) in sentences like X is Y:

English: The ticket price is high.
Russian: Стоимость билета высокая. (no есть)

You usually use есть only when you:

Want to emphasize existence/availability:
- У меня есть билет. – I have a ticket.
Or in certain contrastive/emphatic contexts.

So Стоимость билета есть высокая sounds unnatural and almost never would be said.

Why is it такой шанс and not something like такой случай or такая возможность? What does шанс nuance here?

All three are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:

шанс – a chance, an opportunity with a feeling of luck / rarity / opportunity you might miss.
случай – a case, an occurrence, an instance, more neutral and factual.
возможность – a possibility, an opportunity; can sound a bit more neutral or abstract.

In this sentence:

такой шанс emphasizes a special opportunity that doesn’t come often, which fits well with бывает редко (happens rarely).
Saying такой случай бывает редко would focus more on an unusual event.
такая возможность бывает редко is also possible and close in meaning, but шанс keeps a stronger flavor of “you might not get this again.”

Why is it такой шанс, not такой шанса or something else? What is такой agreeing with?

Такой is a demonstrative adjective meaning such, this kind of and it must agree with the noun it modifies:

Noun: шанс – masculine, singular, nominative
Adjective: такой – masculine, singular, nominative

So:

такой шанс – such a chance (correct)
Feminine would be такая (e.g., такая возможность)
Neuter would be такое (e.g., такое предложение)

Такой шанса would be incorrect because the endings don’t match in case/number/gender.

What does бывает add here? How is бывает different from есть or from just saying такой шанс редко?

Бывает is the 3rd person singular of бывать, an imperfective frequentative verb related to быть (to be, to occur).

Here it means happens / occurs and implies something that sometimes occurs, from time to time:

такой шанс бывает редко – Such a chance rarely happens / comes along.

Differences:

есть – there is / there exists (stative, existence)
- Такой шанс есть. – Such a chance exists. (no idea how often)
бывает – happens, occurs (from time to time)
- Такой шанс бывает редко. – Focus on frequency, rarity.

If you said only такой шанс редко, it would be incomplete. Russian needs a verb in this clause, so бывает (or a synonym like случается) is required.

Why is it бывает редко (verb + adverb) and not something like редкий шанс?

You can say both, but they focus on slightly different things:

такой шанс бывает редко
- Literally: such a chance happens rarely
- Focus: how often it occurs (frequency in time).
такой редкий шанс
- Literally: such a rare chance
- Focus: quality of the chance (it is rare by nature).

The original sentence is making a contrast with the high price:

Стоимость билета высокая, но такой шанс бывает редко.
- The ticket is expensive, but such a chance rarely comes along.

Using the verb + adverb structure (бывает редко) keeps the idea of frequency of occurrence, which fits well with this contrast.

Why use the present tense бывает when we are talking about a specific offer now? Shouldn’t it be future?

Russian often uses the present tense to describe general truths and typical situations, even when you’re logically talking about the future:

Такой шанс бывает редко.
- Literally: Such a chance happens rarely.
- Sense: Chances like this don’t come often (in general, including in the future).

It doesn’t just refer to this one specific case; it states a general fact about how often such chances appear.
If you said будет, you would be pointing specifically to the future:

Такой шанс будет редко. – sounds odd; you would more likely say:
- Такой шанс ещё не скоро будет. – Such a chance won’t come again soon.

Could we say Цена билета высокая instead of Стоимость билета высокая? Is there a difference between цена and стоимость?

Yes, you can say:

Цена билета высокая. – The ticket price is high.

Differences in nuance:

цена – price, the amount of money you pay. Very common in everyday speech.
стоимость – cost / value, sometimes sounds a bit more formal or technical; often used in documents, tickets, receipts, official language.

In many everyday situations, цена is more colloquial and natural.
In something like a written advertisement or an official description, стоимость билета высокая might sound slightly more “official.”

Why is there a comma between высокая and но?

Because this sentence has two independent clauses joined by но (but):

Стоимость билета высокая – complete clause.
такой шанс бывает редко – complete clause.

In Russian, when но connects two full clauses, you generally use a comma before it:

[Clause 1], но [Clause 2].
- Я хочу поехать, но у меня нет времени.
- Стоимость билета высокая, но такой шанс бывает редко.

Could we drop билета and just say Стоимость высокая, но такой шанс бывает редко? Would that be correct?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Стоимость высокая, но такой шанс бывает редко.

In context, listeners would usually understand you still mean стоимость билета.

However:

With билета, it’s more precise: you explicitly say it’s the ticket price.
Without билета, стоимость is a bit more abstract and relies entirely on previous context.

Both forms are fine; including билета just makes it clearer if this is the first sentence about the topic.