Questions & Answers about Этот горный город спокойный.
Russian usually omits the verb “to be” (есть) in the present tense when linking a subject with a noun or adjective.
So instead of saying literally Этот горный город есть спокойный, Russian just says Этот горный город спокойный. The “is” is understood from the structure and context.
You would only use есть here in special cases (strong emphasis or contrast), which would sound unusual in a neutral sentence like this.
Because they must agree in gender, number, and case with город:
- город – masculine, singular, nominative
- этот – masculine, singular, nominative (matching город)
- горный – masculine, singular, nominative (matching город)
- спокойный – masculine, singular, nominative (matching город)
In Russian, adjectives and demonstratives change their endings to match the noun.
If the noun were feminine (e.g. деревня), you would have: эта горная деревня спокойная.
Because этот must agree with город:
- город – masculine singular
- этот – masculine singular (this
- masculine noun)
- эта – feminine singular (e.g. эта деревня)
- это – neuter singular (e.g. это озеро)
- эти – plural (e.g. эти города)
So этот горный город literally means this mountain city/town.
They play different roles:
- горный is an attributive adjective (a normal describing adjective attached to the noun), so it stands before the noun:
- горный город = mountain city / city in the mountains
- спокойный is a predicative adjective (part of what in English is “is calm”), so it comes after the noun:
- город спокойный ≈ the city is calm
So the structure is:
- Этот (этот) + горный (mountain) + город (city) – subject
- спокойный (calm) – predicate adjective
Together: Этот горный город спокойный = This mountain city is calm.
Yes, Этот горный город — спокойный is also correct.
The dash in Russian often marks the link between subject and predicate when both are in the nominative, especially for clarity or emphasis.
Differences in feel:
- Этот горный город спокойный. – neutral statement; the “is” is just understood.
- Этот горный город — спокойный. – slightly more emphatic, like “This mountain town is indeed calm” or “This mountain town – it’s calm.”
Both are grammatically fine; the dash just highlights the pause and contrast.
Both can describe a city in the mountains, but the nuance is a bit different:
- горный город – a set phrase meaning a mountain town/city, often implying that the town’s identity is strongly tied to being in the mountains (resort town, highland town, etc.).
- город в горах – literally a city in the mountains, more descriptive and neutral; just talks about its location.
In many contexts they overlap, but горный город sounds a bit more compact and idiomatic as a type of city.
Yes, you can:
- Этот горный город спокойный.
- Этот горный город спокоен.
Both mean essentially the same thing. The difference:
- спокойный – long form adjective, more neutral, very common in speech.
- спокоен – short form adjective, used mainly as a predicate, often with a slightly more bookish or stylistic feel.
You cannot use short forms like спокоен before a noun (спокоен город is grammatical but very stylistic/poetic; normally you would say спокойный город).
They are all in the nominative singular masculine:
- город – nominative singular
- горный – nominative singular masculine
- спокойный – nominative singular masculine
In Russian, in a sentence like X is Y (with X a noun and Y an adjective or noun), both X and Y are usually in the nominative case:
- Город спокойный. – The city is calm.
- Москва — столица. – Moscow is the capital.
So nominative here marks both the subject and the predicative.
It is grammatically correct and understandable. In real speech and writing, you might more often see:
- Этот горный город очень спокойный.
- Этот горный город — спокойный город. (repeating город for emphasis)
- Этот горный город — спокойное место.
But Этот горный город спокойный is fine as a straightforward statement, especially in descriptive or literary context. Intonation will usually put a slight pause after город:
Этот горный ГОрод / споко́йный.
The pattern stays the same, but endings change to match the noun.
Feminine noun (деревня – village):
- Эта горная деревня спокойная.
- Or short form: Эта горная деревня спокойна.
Neuter noun (место – place):
- Это горное место спокойное.
- Short form: Это горное место спокойно.
Plural (города – cities):
- Эти горные города спокойные.
- Short form: Эти горные города спокойны.
Notice how этот / эта / это / эти, горный / горная / горное / горные, and спокойный / спокойная / спокойное / спокойные all change to match.
Because горной is a feminine or oblique-case form, and город is masculine nominative.
- Masculine nominative: горный город
- Feminine nominative: горная деревня
- Neuter nominative: горное село
горной is used, for example, in:
- о горной деревне (about a mountain village – prepositional, feminine)
- нет горной деревни (there is no mountain village – genitive, feminine)
Since город is masculine in the nominative, the correct adjective form is горный.
Stresses:
- Э́тот – stress on Э
- го́рный – stress on го́р-
- го́род – stress on го́-
- споко́йный – stress on -ко́й-
Approximate pronunciation (in simple English-style transcription):
- Э́тот го́рный го́род споко́йный
- [E-tat GOR-nyi GOR-at spa-KOY-nyi]
Unstressed о is pronounced more like “a” or “uh”, which is why город often sounds like "GO-rat" to English ears.