В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.

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Breakdown of В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.

• быть: to be
• в: at
• университет: the university
• скоро: soon
• научный: scientific
• конференция: the conference

Questions & Answers about В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.

Why is it в университете and not в университет? In English we say at the university, not in the university, so this confuses me.

Russian and English use different prepositions for locations.

• в + Prepositional case usually means in / inside a place, but with some institutions it corresponds to English at:

  • в университете = at the university (literally: in the university)
  • в школе = at school
  • в больнице = in/at the hospital

• в университете is the prepositional case of университет:

  • nominative (dictionary form): университет
  • prepositional: в университете (ending -е)

в университет (accusative) would normally mean into the university (direction, movement):

• Я иду в университет. – I’m going to the university.

In your sentence, we talk about where the conference will be (location, not direction), so we need в + prepositional: в университете.

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Why is there no word for there like in English There will be a big scientific conference?

Russian usually doesn’t use a separate word like English there in existential sentences.

English: There will be a big scientific conference at the university soon.
Russian: В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.

Structurally in Russian this is more like:
At the university soon will be a big scientific conference.

• большая научная конференция is the grammatical subject.
• будет is the verb to be in future.
• в университете is where it will be.

So Russian doesn’t need an extra dummy word like there; the location phrase в университете plus будет already express existence/occurrence in a place.

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Why is the verb будет used? English doesn’t say The conference will be, but There will be a conference.

Russian uses быть (будет in future) in many places where English uses there is/there will be.

• есть (present) = there is/are (often omitted)
• будет (future) = there will be
• была/было/были (past) = there was/were

So:

• В университете будет конференция.
  Literally: In the university will be a conference.
  Natural English: There will be a conference at the university.

Your sentence just adds скоро and adjectives:

• В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.
  = There will soon be a big scientific conference at the university.

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Why is большая научная конференция in the nominative case, not some other case?

Because большая научная конференция is the subject of the sentence.

The structure is:

• что будет? – большая научная конференция (subject, nominative)
• где? – в университете (location)
• когда? – скоро (time)

In Russian, after быть (including будет) in the meaning there is/there will be, the thing that exists/occurs is normally in the nominative case:

• В городе будет концерт. – There will be a concert in the city.
• У нас была встреча. – We had a meeting. (literally: At us was a meeting.)

So большая научная конференция stays nominative.

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Why is it большая научная конференция, not большой научной конференции?

That would be a case mismatch.

• конференция is feminine, nominative singular.
• Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

So:

• nominative feminine singular:
  • большая конференция
  • научная конференция
  • большая научная конференция

Forms like большой научной конференции are genitive or dative or prepositional, depending on context:

• нет большой научной конференции – there is no big scientific conference (genitive)
• к большой научной конференции – to the big scientific conference (dative)
• о большой научной конференции – about the big scientific conference (prepositional)

In your sentence the conference is the subject, so nominative большая научная конференция is correct.

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Why does the adjective большая come before научная? Could I say научная большая конференция?

Both are grammatically possible, but большая научная конференция is the natural, neutral order here.

Russian tends to put:

1. Qualitative adjectives (size, color, personal qualities, etc.) closer to the noun.
2. Relative adjectives (type, domain, material, origin, like научный, literary, wooden, Russian) further from the noun.

Here:

• большая – qualitative (big)
• научная – relative (scientific, about science)

So the most natural order is:

• большая научная конференция

научная большая конференция is possible but sounds unusual or gives special emphasis/pragmatic nuance (for example, contrasting types of conferences, focusing first on scientific, then on the fact that it’s big).

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Why is it в университете скоро будет... and not скоро в университете будет... or будет скоро? How flexible is the word order?

Russian word order is flexible. All of these are possible, but the focus changes slightly:

1. В университете скоро будет большая научная конференция.
   Neutral: first we mention the place, then the time, then what will happen.

2. Скоро в университете будет большая научная конференция.
   Slightly more emphasis on the time – Soon, at the university there will be...

3. В университете будет скоро большая научная конференция.
   Less common; скоро sounds somewhat more separated/emphatic:
   At the university there will be, soon, a big scientific conference.

4. Большая научная конференция скоро будет в университете.
   Often used if the conference is already known, and we’re specifying where it will be.

All are grammatically correct; the original version is a very natural, neutral-sounding order.

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What exactly does скоро mean here? Is it like soon or in the near future? Are there similar words?

скоро means soon / before long / in the near future. It’s quite general and colloquial.

Nuance:

• It doesn’t specify exact time – just not long from now.
• Context decides whether that means minutes, days, or months.

Similar words/phrases:

• вскоре – also soon, but more bookish/formal.
• в ближайшее время – in the near future (more formal/neutral).
• через неделю/месяц – in a week/month (more precise).

Your sentence with variants:

• В университете вскоре будет большая научная конференция. – a bit more formal/literary.
• В университете в ближайшее время будет большая научная конференция. – sometime soon / in the near future.

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Could I say на университете instead of в университете?

Not in this meaning.

• в университете – in/at the university (as an institution/place).
• на университете is not idiomatic here.

With institutions, Russian often uses:

• в with университет, школа, больница, библиотека:
  • в университете, в школе, в больнице, в библиотеке
• на with работа, почта, фабрика, завод, курсы:
  • на работе, на почте, на фабрике, на заводе, на курсах

So you need в университете for at the university.

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Why not say будет проходить большая научная конференция or состоится конференция? Are they different?

You can say those; they add a nuance:

• будет большая научная конференция
  Neutral: simply there will be a big scientific conference.

• будет проходить большая научная конференция
  Stresses the process / taking place over time:
  a big scientific conference will be going on / will be held.

• состоится большая научная конференция
  More formal, emphasizes the fact of it being held / taking place as an event:
  a big scientific conference will take place.

All three are correct, but:

• The original sentence is the simplest neutral way to say that such a conference is planned/expected there soon.
• In announcements, you’ll very often see состоится or пройдёт:
  • В университете скоро состоится большая научная конференция.
  • В университете скоро пройдёт большая научная конференция.

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Is научная конференция exactly the same as scientific conference, or could it also mean academic conference?

научная конференция literally is scientific conference, but in practice it covers what English usually calls:

• academic conference
• research conference
• scientific conference (in a broad sense, not only natural sciences)

It refers to a conference where researchers / scholars present and discuss their work, regardless of field:

• научная конференция по истории – an academic conference on history
• научная конференция по физике – a scientific conference on physics

So when translating to natural English, academic conference is often the best choice, depending on context.

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How is университете pronounced and stressed?

университет (dictionary form) is stressed on the last syllable:

• у-ни-вер-си-ТЕТ

In the prepositional в университете, the stress stays on the same vowel:

• в у-ни-вер-си-ТЕ-те

So:

• университет – [университет] (stress on е́)
• в университете – [в университе́те]

The ending -е doesn’t change the stress position; it just signals the prepositional case.

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Could we ever say будет большой научной конференцией instead of будет большая научная конференция?

Yes, but it would mean something different and be used in a different context.

• будет большая научная конференция – there will be a big scientific conference.
  Noun is in nominative as the subject.

• будет большой научной конференцией – will be (serve as) a big scientific conference.
  Here большой научной конференцией is instrumental case, used for predicative complement (what something is / becomes).

Example:

• Это мероприятие будет большой научной конференцией.
  This event will be a big scientific conference.

In your sentence, we’re not saying what something will be, but that there will be such an event, so nominative большая научная конференция is the correct form.