Learn Hardcore Russian: Мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая. - We are making a light vegetable soup because fried food is heavy.

In Russian, the verb “to be” (быть) is usually omitted in the present tense when you are simply saying that something is something (a description or identity).

So:

жареная еда тяжёлая
literally: fried food heavy
meaning: fried food *is heavy.*

If you wanted to include the verb explicitly, it would be:

жареная еда есть тяжёлая

But in modern Russian this sounds either:

very formal/literary, or
like you’re putting special emphasis on есть for contrast.

So for normal speech and writing in the present tense, Russian just drops “есть” and uses two nouns/adjectives side by side.

Why is the verb готовим used here and not something like приготовим?

Готовим is the imperfective present tense, 1st person plural of готовить (“to cook, to prepare (food)”).

Мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп
= We are cooking / we cook a light vegetable soup (now / in general).

Imperfective is used for:

actions in progress,
repeated or habitual actions,
general statements.

Приготовим is perfective, future tense of приготовить, and it usually emphasizes the result:

Мы приготовим лёгкий овощной суп
= We will cook / will have cooked a light vegetable soup (we’ll end up with it ready).

In this sentence we are focusing on what we are (now) cooking or tend to cook, not on the completed future result, so готовим is natural.

What case is лёгкий овощной суп in, and why doesn’t it change to something like лёгкого супа after готовим?

After a transitive verb like готовить, the direct object is in the accusative case.

The noun суп is masculine inanimate singular.
For masculine inanimate singular nouns, the accusative = nominative.
- nominative: суп
- accusative: суп (same form)

The adjectives лёгкий and овощной must agree with суп in:

gender: masculine
number: singular
case: accusative (which, for masculine inanimate, looks like nominative)

So the forms are:

лёгкий овощной суп in nominative
лёгкий овощной суп in accusative (identical in form)

Лёгкого супа / овощного супа would be:

genitive case (e.g. of light soup), or
*accusative case of a masculine animate noun (like “I see the light doctor” → вижу лёгкого врача).

Since суп is inanimate, its accusative is identical to nominative, so the phrase doesn’t visibly change after готовим.

What genders are суп and еда, and how do they affect the adjectives лёгкий / овощной / жареная / тяжёлая?

суп = masculine (ends in a consonant)
еда = feminine (ends in -а)

Adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun they describe in:

gender
number
case

So:

лёгкий овощной суп
- суп – masculine singular
- adjectives: masculine singular forms:
  - лёгкий (light)
  - овощной (vegetable, adj.)
жареная еда тяжёлая
- еда – feminine singular
- adjectives in the first part:
  - жареная (fried) – feminine singular (nominative)
- predicate adjective at the end:
  - тяжёлая (heavy) – feminine singular (nominative, agreeing with еда)

So the different endings (-ий / -ой vs -ая) are directly caused by the gender of суп and еда.

Why is it овощной суп and not овощный суп? Where does the ending -ной come from?

The adjective овощной comes from the noun овощ (“vegetable”).

To form this adjective:

Take the stem овощ-
Add the suffix -н-
Then the standard adjective ending -ой
→ овощ-н-ой → овощной

The spelling овощный would be a different pattern and is not standard for the meaning “vegetable (adj.)” in this phrase. The established, correct form is:

овощной суп = “vegetable soup”

So:

овощ (vegetable) → овощной (vegetable, adj.)
This -ной is a normal adjective-forming pattern in Russian.

What’s the difference between овощной суп and суп с овощами? Do they mean the same thing?

They’re close in meaning but not identical in nuance.

овощной суп
Literally: vegetable (adj.) soup
Typical meaning: a soup whose main type is “vegetable soup” (like tomato soup, cabbage soup etc. — no strong focus on meat).
суп с овощами
Literally: soup with vegetables
Meaning: some kind of soup that includes vegetables, but it might also heavily contain meat, fish, etc. The vegetables are just one component.

In practice:

If you order овощной суп in a café, you expect something based mainly on vegetables.
If you hear суп с овощами, it could be chicken soup with added vegetables, for instance.

Both are correct; the choice depends on whether you want to stress:

the type of soup itself (овощной суп), or
the presence of vegetables as an ingredient (суп с овощами).

Why is there a comma before потому что? Can I change the word order around потому что?

Потому что introduces a subordinate clause of reason (“because …”), so Russian normally separates it from the main clause with a comma.

Мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая.
Main clause: Мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп
Subordinate clause: потому что жареная еда тяжёлая

You can also put the потому что-clause first; the comma remains:

Потому что жареная еда тяжёлая, мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп.
= Because fried food is heavy, we’re cooking a light vegetable soup.

So:

Comma is obligatory here.
Word order between main clause and потому что-clause can be reversed, but you still keep the comma.

Can the word order in жареная еда тяжёлая change? For example, could I say еда жареная тяжёлая or тяжёлая жареная еда?

Russian word order is relatively flexible, but neutral and most natural here is:

жареная еда тяжёлая
(fried food is heavy)

Some variations and how they sound:

тяжёлая жареная еда
- Sounds like you’re piling on adjectives in front of the noun.
- Typical for lists: heavy fried food, sweet desserts, and so on…
- Grammatically fine, just a bit more “packed” at the front.
еда жареная тяжёлая
- Grammatically possible but sounds marked and less natural.
- It may feel like you’re placing two predicates after еда, almost like:
  - The food is fried, (and) it is heavy.
- You’d normally separate that into:
  - Еда жареная и тяжёлая. (The food is fried and heavy.)

The original жареная еда тяжёлая is the clearest and most typical way to say fried food is heavy as a general statement.

Could I say еда тяжела instead of еда тяжёлая? What’s the difference between тяжёлая and тяжела?

Yes, you can say еда тяжела, but it sounds more literary / formal / elevated.

еда тяжёлая
- uses the full adjective form (тяжёлый → тяжёлая)
- very common and neutral in modern spoken and written Russian
- Fried food is heavy → жареная еда тяжёлая.
еда тяжела
- uses the short adjective form (тяжёлый → тяжёл, тяжела, тяжело, тяжелы)
- sounds somewhat bookish, poetic, or stylistically marked
- you might see it in literature or more “stylized” speech.

In everyday conversation and normal writing, тяжёлая is preferred. The sentence:

жареная еда тяжела

is correct but feels more like something you’d meet in a formal text or a stylistic effect.

Why is it spelled жареная еда with one н and not жаренная еда?

Жареная here is an adjectivized participle formed from the verb жарить (“to fry”).

Russian has quite complex rules for one н vs нн, but the simplified idea here:

Past passive participles often have -нн-:
- жаренный (fried – emphasizing the result of an action), e.g. жаренная на масле картошка (potatoes fried in oil, explicitly pointing to the action process).
But when the word has become more of a regular adjective, especially in common collocations like food descriptions, one н is standard:
- жареная картошка (fried potatoes – typical dish name)
- жареная рыба (fried fish)
- жареная еда (fried food)

In everyday language, жареная еда with one н is the normal, idiomatic form. Using жаренная еда would sound odd or overly focused on the underlying action and is usually considered a spelling mistake in this phrase.

How would this sentence look in the past and future tenses?

The main change is in the verb готовить. The structure with adjectives and the omission of есть in the predicate remains the same.

Present (original):
Мы готовим лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая.
= We are cooking / we cook a light vegetable soup, because fried food is heavy.
Past:
- masculine speaker or mixed group:
  Мы готовили лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая.
- if you want “was heavy” instead of “is heavy”:
  Мы готовили лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда была тяжёлая.
Note that in the past tense, Russian does use the verb был/была/было/были if you need a clear past state:
- еда была тяжёлая = the food was heavy.
Future (imperfective, process/habit):
Мы будем готовить лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая.
= We will be cooking / will tend to cook a light vegetable soup…
Future (perfective, result):
Мы приготовим лёгкий овощной суп, потому что жареная еда тяжёлая.
= We will cook (and have ready) a light vegetable soup…

So:

verb готовить changes form with tense,
the pattern жареная еда тяжёлая can stay present (general truth) or become past with была.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence? Where are the stress accents?

Here is the sentence with stress marks and a simple transliteration:

Мы готóвим лёгкий овощнóй суп, потому́ что жареная едá тяжёлая.

Transliteration (approximate for English speakers):

My gatÓ-vim LYÓG-kiy ovaSHNÓY sup, patamÚ shto ZHÁ-ri-na-ya yeDÁ tyazhÓ-la-ya.

Word by word with stress:

мы – my (short “mɨ”) – no stress (very short)
готовим – готóвим – ga-TÓ-vim
лёгкий – лё́гкий – LYÓG-kij
овощной – овощнóй – ava-shNÓY
суп – sup (like English soup without the long vowel)
потому что – потому́ что – pa-ta-MÚ shto
жареная – жáреная – ZHÁ-ri-na-ya
еда – едá – ye-DÁ
тяжёлая – тяжёлая – tya-ZHÓ-la-ya

Note: in modern writing ё is often written simply as е, so you might see тяжелая, but the pronunciation still has “yo”: тяжёлая.