Сегодня уроки интересные.

Today the lessons are interesting.

Breakdown of Сегодня уроки интересные.

• интересный: interesting
• сегодня: today
• уроки: the homework

Questions & Answers about Сегодня уроки интересные.

Why is there no word for are in the Russian sentence?

Russian usually leaves out the verb to be (есть) in the present tense.

So English Today the lessons are interesting becomes simply Сегодня уроки интересные — literally Today lessons interesting.

You only use a form of быть (to be) explicitly in:

• the past: Уроки были интересные – The lessons were interesting.
• the future: Уроки будут интересные – The lessons will be interesting.

Why does the adjective интересные come after уроки, when in English it comes before the noun?

Here the adjective is not an attribute (part of the noun phrase), but a predicate: it’s saying what the lessons are like.

Two different structures:

• интересные уроки – interesting lessons (adjective before the noun, part of the noun phrase)
• уроки интересные – the lessons are interesting (adjective after the noun, predicate)

In your sentence Сегодня уроки интересные, уроки is the subject, and интересные is the predicate adjective describing the subject.

Why is it интересные and not интересный or интересны?

Because adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• уроки is masculine plural, nominative.
• The full-form adjective that matches that is интересные (plural nominative).

Other forms:

• интересный – masculine singular nominative (e.g. интересный урок – an interesting lesson)
• интересна / интересен / интересны – short-form adjectives used mainly predicatively:
  • Уроки интересны. – The lessons are interesting.
    This sounds a bit more formal/literary or “bookish” than Уроки интересные.

What case are уроки and интересные, and why that case?

Both are in the nominative plural.

In Russian, in sentences of the type X is Y (with an adjective or a noun as Y), both X and Y are usually in the nominative:

• Уроки интересные.
  • Уроки – nominative plural (subject)
  • интересные – nominative plural, agreeing with уроки (predicate adjective)

So you don’t use accusative here, because you are not doing anything to the lessons; you are describing them.

Can I change the word order, for example say Сегодня интересные уроки or Интересные уроки сегодня? Does it change the meaning?

All of these are grammatically correct:

1. Сегодня уроки интересные.
   Neutral: Today, the lessons are interesting.

2. Сегодня интересные уроки.
   Slight emphasis on интересные уроки as a “package”:
   Today there are interesting lessons (today’s lessons are interesting ones).

3. Уроки сегодня интересные.
   Emphasis that today they are interesting (maybe not always).

4. Интересные уроки сегодня.
   Strong focus on интересные – sounds like:
   Interesting lessons today! (as a comment, possibly elliptical)

Word order in Russian is flexible; changing it often changes emphasis or style, not basic grammatical correctness.

What part of speech is сегодня? Why is there no preposition like в?

Сегодня is an adverb meaning today.

Many time words in Russian are adverbs and are used without a preposition:

• сегодня – today
• вчера – yesterday
• завтра – tomorrow
• сейчас – now

So you say:

• Сегодня уроки интересные. – Today the lessons are interesting.

You would not say в сегодня; that’s incorrect.

What is the difference between Сегодня уроки интересные and Сегодняшние уроки интересные?

• Сегодня уроки интересные.
  Literally: Today the lessons are interesting.
  Neutral way to talk about how today’s lessons are.

• Сегодняшние уроки интересные.
  Literally: Today’s lessons are interesting.
  Here сегодняшние is an adjective meaning today’s.

Nuance:

• Сегодняшние уроки emphasizes the set of lessons that belong to today as a specific group.
• Сегодня уроки focuses more on the time (today) and then comments on the lessons.

What’s the difference between уроки and занятия?

Both can be translated as lessons / classes, but with different typical uses:

• урок / уроки

  • Common for school lessons.
  • Often implies a standard school subject: math, Russian, history, etc.
  • Example: У меня завтра три урока. – I have three lessons tomorrow.

• занятие / занятия

  • More general: class, session, activity.
  • Used for university classes, courses, sports, music lessons, language classes, etc.
  • Example: Завтра у нас занятия по русскому языку. – Tomorrow we have Russian classes.

In a typical school context, Сегодня уроки интересные is natural.

Can I just say Уроки интересные without сегодня? Is that still correct?

Yes, Уроки интересные is a perfectly correct sentence.

• Уроки интересные. – The lessons are interesting.
  (general statement or in some understood context)

Adding сегодня specifies when:

• Сегодня уроки интересные. – Today the lessons are interesting.
  (maybe they are not always interesting, but today they are.)

How do you pronounce each word, and where is the stress?

• Сегодня – segódnya
  IPA: [sʲɪˈvodʲnʲə]
  Stress on the second syllable: сегодня.

• уроки – uróki
  IPA: [ʊˈrokʲɪ]
  Stress on the second syllable: уроки.

• интересные – interésnyye
  IPA: [ɪnʲtʲɪˈrʲesnɨjɪ]
  Stress on the third syllable: интересные.

In the whole sentence:
Сегодня уроки интересные.
The main stress falls on -во-, -ро-, -ре-.

How would I say “Today the lessons were interesting” instead of “are interesting”?

Use the past tense of быть (были) and keep the adjective form the same:

• Сегодня уроки были интересные.
  – Today the lessons were interesting.

Structure:

• Сегодня – today
• уроки – lessons (nominative plural)
• были – were (past, plural)
• интересные – interesting (nominative plural, agreeing with уроки)