Breakdown of Я не люблю слишком острый суп, но моя сестра любит острое.
Questions & Answers about Я не люблю слишком острый суп, но моя сестра любит острое.
In this sentence острый means spicy, not “hot (temperature)”.
- острый суп = spicy soup (contains chili, pepper, etc.)
- горячий суп = hot soup (high temperature)
So:
- “I don’t like hot soup” (temperature) → Я не люблю горячий суп.
- “I don’t like spicy soup” (flavor) → Я не люблю острый суп.
Literally, острый means “sharp” (like a sharp knife or a sharp taste), and by extension “spicy / hot (in taste)”.
Both слишком and очень intensify the adjective, but they are not the same:
- очень острый суп = very spicy soup (strong, but neutral statement)
- слишком острый суп = too spicy soup (excessive; more than is acceptable or pleasant)
слишком always has the idea of “more than is good/comfortable/acceptable”, like English too:
- слишком дорогой = too expensive
- слишком трудный = too difficult
So Я не люблю слишком острый суп means: “I don’t like soup that is too spicy for me.”
Both can translate as “I don’t like”, but they differ in grammar and nuance.
любить (to love/like)
- Pattern: Subject in nominative + любить + direct object (accusative)
- Я не люблю суп. = I don’t like soup.
- Sounds a bit stronger, more like a personal preference: “I’m not a fan of…”
нравиться (to be pleasing to someone)
- Pattern: Thing (subject, nominative) + нравится + person (indirect object, dative)
- Мне не нравится суп. = The soup is not pleasing to me / I don’t like the soup.
In everyday speech, Я не люблю суп and Мне не нравится суп can overlap, but:
- не люблю often suggests a stable preference (“I’m generally not into it”).
- не нравится can sound more situation‑based (“this specific soup / this time I don’t like it”).
Your sentence uses the simple preference verb: Я не люблю слишком острый суп.
In Russian, with a direct object under negation, you can sometimes use either accusative or genitive. The choice affects nuance.
Accusative (what you have):
- Я не люблю слишком острый суп.
- Neutral, general statement: “I don’t like (this kind of) too‑spicy soup.”
Genitive (more “partitive” or generalized):
- Я не люблю слишком острого супа.
- Grammatical, but sounds bookish or stylistically marked here.
- Tends to mean something like “I don’t like any soup that is too spicy” / “I don’t like too‑spicy soup at all.”
In modern conversational Russian, for simple preference sentences like this, accusative (as in the example) is more natural.
Острое here is a substantivized adjective: an adjective used as a noun.
- Base adjective: острый (spicy, sharp)
- Neuter singular form: острое
When you use the neuter singular form of an adjective on its own, it can mean “things of that kind”:
- сладкое = sweet things → usually “dessert”
- горячее = hot things → usually “the main hot dish”
- острое = spicy things → spicy food/spicy stuff
So моя сестра любит острое ≈ “my sister likes spicy stuff / spicy food / spicy things (in general).”
The noun (e.g. блюда, “dishes”) is understood and not repeated.
Neuter singular adjectives in Russian (-ое / -ее) are the most common way to turn an adjective into a generic noun:
- холодное = cold food/drink
- сладкое = dessert
- жареное = fried food
- острое = spicy food
So the pattern is:
- Она любит сладкое. = She likes sweets/dessert.
- Она любит острое. = She likes spicy food.
Using острый or острая alone here would not sound like a generic noun; it would feel incomplete (острый… что?). The neuter form is the idiomatic “noun‑like” choice.
Yes, both are correct, but they feel slightly different:
Моя сестра любит острую еду.
- Literally: “My sister likes spicy food.”
- Clear, explicit; good for learners.
Моя сестра любит острое.
- Literally: “My sister likes spicy (things).”
- Sounds very natural and idiomatic, a bit more general and “native‑like”.
Often, Russians will prefer the short любит острое, just as they say любит сладкое rather than always любит сладкую еду.
You could say it with нравиться, but the structure changes:
With любить:
- Моя сестра любит острое.
- Subject: моя сестра (nominative)
- Verb: любит (3sg)
- Object: острое (accusative)
With нравиться:
- Моей сестре нравится острое.
- Indirect object: моей сестре (dative)
- Verb: нравится (3sg)
- Subject: острое (nominative)
Meaning difference is subtle; both are often translated “My sister likes spicy (food).”
Nuance:
- любит: stronger, more like “she is a fan of / loves this kind of thing.”
- нравится: a bit softer, more “this is pleasing to her.”
In everyday speech, Моя сестра любит острое sounds very natural and straightforward.
Both are possible, but with different nuances:
но = “but”, emphasizes contrast/opposition.
- Я не люблю слишком острый суп, но моя сестра любит острое.
- Clear contrast: my preference vs hers, almost “I don’t, but she does.”
а often marks a contrastive comparison (“whereas / while”), sometimes softer than но:
- Я не люблю слишком острый суп, а моя сестра любит острое.
- Feels like: “I don’t like too spicy soup, whereas my sister likes spicy food.”
In many conversational contexts, а might even sound a bit more natural here, but но is entirely correct and standard.
In Russian, слишком normally comes directly before the adjective or adverb it modifies:
- слишком острый суп = too spicy soup
- слишком дорогой телефон = too expensive phone
- слишком быстро = too fast
Putting слишком after the adjective (острый слишком суп) is ungrammatical and sounds wrong to native speakers.
So the standard pattern is:
слишком + adjective + noun
Любить is a second‑conjugation verb. Its present‑tense forms include:
- я люблю – I love/like
- ты любишь – you (sg.) love/like
- он / она / оно любит – he / she / it loves/likes
- мы любим – we love/like
- вы любите – you (pl./formal) love/like
- они любят – they love/like
So in the sentence:
Я не люблю слишком острый суп
- я → люблю (1st person singular)
моя сестра любит острое
- моя сестра = “she” → любит (3rd person singular)
That’s why you see люблю in the first clause and любит in the second.