Questions & Answers about Сегодня переписка с другом была длинной.
Why is длинной used here and not длинная?
Both длинной and длинная are grammatically possible, but they have slightly different nuances.
In Сегодня переписка с другом была длинной:
- переписка is feminine singular.
- In the past tense, Russian often uses the instrumental case for a descriptive predicate:
- была какой? длинной → adjective in instrumental feminine (-ой).
You could say:
- Сегодня переписка с другом была длинная.
This uses nominative (длинная) and is also correct. The difference:
- Instrumental (была длинной) often feels a bit more descriptive, like “turned out to be / was of the nature of being long”.
- Nominative (была длинная) is more neutral, closer to a simple “was long”.
In everyday speech, both are fine; learners should just recognize that instrumental with быть in the past is very common.
Why is была used? I thought Russian often drops “to be”.