Научный журнал интересный.

The scientific journal is interesting.

Breakdown of Научный журнал интересный.

• интересный: interesting
• научный: scientific
• журнал: the journal

Questions & Answers about Научный журнал интересный.

Why is there no word for “is” in Научный журнал интересный?

In Russian, the verb “to be” (быть) is normally left out in the present tense in simple sentences like this.

• English: The scientific journal is interesting.
• Russian literally: Scientific journal interesting. (no explicit “is”)

You would only use a form of быть in:

• the past or future (e.g. журнал был интересным, журнал будет интересным), or
• some special emphatic or very formal constructions.

So the absence of “is” here is completely normal Russian grammar.

Why do both adjectives научный and интересный end with -ый?

Both adjectives agree with the noun журнал in gender, number, and case.

• журнал is masculine, singular, nominative.
• The normal masculine singular nominative ending for hard-stem adjectives is -ый (sometimes -ий, depending on the stem).

So:

• научный – scientific (masc. sg. nom.)
• интересный – interesting (masc. sg. nom.)

They match журнал:
научный журнал (какой?) интересный – the scientific journal (what kind?) [is] interesting.

What case are the words in, and why?

All three words are in the nominative singular masculine:

• научный – nominative masculine singular adjective
• журнал – nominative masculine singular noun
• интересный – nominative masculine singular adjective

Reason:

1. журнал is the subject of the sentence → nominative.
2. интересный is a predicate adjective that describes the subject.
   In present‑tense sentences without a verb, the predicate adjective is also put in the nominative.

So structurally it’s like:

• Научный журнал (есть) интересный.
  The scientific journal (is) interesting.

Should there be a dash: Научный журнал — интересный?

You can put a dash here, but you don’t have to.

• Научный журнал интересный. – neutral, simple statement.
• Научный журнал — интересный. – the dash adds a slight pause and emphasis, highlighting the logical division:
  • Научный журнал (topic) — интересный (comment).

Both versions are grammatically correct. In many printed texts, a dash before a predicative noun or adjective is quite common, especially if the author wants to stress the contrast or clarity of the statement.

Is Научный журнал интересный the most natural way to say this, or should it be Научный журнал интересен?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

1. Научный журнал интересный.

   • Uses the full adjective as a predicate.
   • Common in spoken language, everyday style, sometimes in children’s speech or very simple statements.
   • Stylistically neutral but a bit “heavier” than the short form.

2. Научный журнал интересен.

   • Uses the short form adjective интересен, which is very common for predicate adjectives.
   • Sounds a bit more compact and more standard in written and spoken Russian.

If you want the most natural, textbook-like version, Научный журнал интересен is usually preferred. But the given sentence is still correct.

Can I change the word order to Интересный научный журнал? Does it mean the same thing?

Интересный научный журнал is grammatically fine, but the structure and meaning are different.

• Научный журнал интересный.

  • Subject + predicate.
  • You’re making a statement: The scientific journal is interesting.

• Интересный научный журнал.

  • Just a noun phrase: an interesting scientific journal.
  • No verb, no full sentence.
  • You’re describing a particular journal, not stating a fact about it.

So:

• As a full sentence, keep журнал as the subject and an adjective as a predicate:
  Научный журнал интересный / интересен.
• As a phrase (e.g. “I bought an interesting scientific journal”), you’d say:
  Я купил интересный научный журнал.

How do we know that журнал is masculine, and how would the sentence change with a feminine or neuter noun?

You can tell журнал is masculine because:

• It ends in a consonant in its dictionary form (no vowel, no -а/-я, no -о/-е).
• Most Russian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine.

The adjectives must match the gender. For example:

• Masculine:
  Научный журнал интересный.
  The scientific journal is interesting.

• Feminine:
  Научная книга интересная.
  (книга – feminine)
  Adjectives change to научная, интересная.

• Neuter:
  Научное издание интересное.
  (издание – neuter)
  Adjectives change to научное, интересное.

So the endings of the adjectives show you the gender of the noun they describe.

Why is there no “a/the” (article) in the Russian sentence? How do Russians know whether it’s “a” or “the”?

Russian simply does not use articles like English a/an or the.

• Научный журнал интересный.
  Could be translated as:
  • The scientific journal is interesting.
  • A scientific journal is interesting.

Russians understand whether the meaning is definite or indefinite from:

• Context (what was mentioned before in the conversation),
• Word order and stress,
• Sometimes from additional words like:
  • один научный журнал – one scientific journal → behaves similar to “a certain / a particular”,
  • этот научный журнал – this scientific journal → clearly definite/the.

In isolation, Научный журнал интересный can be interpreted both ways depending on context.

Can I say Научный журнал является интересным? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say:

• Научный журнал является интересным.

But there are two important points:

1. Stylistic difference

   • является is quite formal.
   • It’s more typical of official texts, academic writing, and very formal speech.
   • In everyday conversation people almost always drop any form of “to be” in the present:
     Научный журнал интересный / интересен.

2. Case difference
   With является, the complement is normally in the instrumental case, not nominative:

   • Научный журнал является интересным.
     (интересным – instrumental singular masculine)

   Without является, the predicate adjective is nominative:

   • Научный журнал интересный.

So your sentence with является is grammatically correct, just more formal and uses the instrumental.

How do you pronounce Научный журнал интересный and where is the stress in each word?

Stress and approximate pronunciation (stressed syllables in caps):

1. Научный – na‑ÚCH‑nyy

   • IPA: [nɐˈut͡ʂnɨj]
   • Stress on у.

2. журнал – zhur‑NÁL

   • IPA: [ʐʊrˈnal]
   • Stress on а.

3. интересный – in‑tye‑RÉS‑nyy

   • IPA: [ɪnʲtʲɪˈrʲesnɨj]
   • Stress on е in the -рес- syllable.

So:
наУ́чный журнА́л интересНЫ́й (all three stresses: у – а – е).