Learn Hardcore Russian: Скрипка звучит мягко, а пианино чуть громче. - The violin sounds soft, and the piano a bit louder.

It was borrowed from Italian and keeps the same form in all cases and numbers:
- новое пианино – a new piano (nom./acc.)
- на пианино – on the piano (prep.)
- к пианино – to(ward) the piano (dat.)
Its grammatical gender is neuter, so:
- adjectives: новое пианино, красивое пианино
- pronouns: моё пианино, это пианино
- verbs: пианино стоит в углу, пианино звучит громко

So in the sentence, пианино is nominative singular neuter, but its form simply doesn’t show that; you know it from context and agreement.

Why is the verb звучит used here, and why is it singular when there are two instruments mentioned?

Why звучит?
Звучать means “to sound” (to have a certain sound quality).
- Скрипка звучит мягко = The violin sounds soft(ly).
  You use звучать when you describe how something sounds, not who is playing.
If you said играет, that’s usually “plays” (somebody plays it):
- Он играет на скрипке – He plays the violin.
- Saying Скрипка играет мягко is unusual; it suggests the violin itself is “playing”, not just “sounding”.
Why singular?
Grammatically, we actually have two clauses:
- Скрипка звучит мягко,
- а пианино (звучит) чуть громче.
In the second part, звучит is simply omitted to avoid repetition, but it is understood.
Each clause has one singular subject:
- скрипка → звучит
- пианино → (звучит)
If you wanted a shared plural verb, you’d need a single subject like:
- Скрипка и пианино звучат по-разному. – The violin and the piano sound different.

Why is it мягко and not мягкий?

Because Russian distinguishes clearly between adjectives and adverbs:

мягкий – an adjective: soft (describing a noun)
- мягкий звук – a soft sound
мягко – an adverb: softly / in a soft way (describing a verb)
- звучит мягко – sounds softly / has a soft sound

In the sentence, мягко describes how the violin sounds, so you need the adverb.

Formally, many adverbs from adjectives are formed with -о:

тихий → тихо
громкий → громко
мягкий → мягко

Why is it чуть громче and not чуть громко or чуть более громко?

громче is a comparative form (of громкий / громко), meaning “louder”.
- громкий / громко – loud / loudly
- громче – louder
чуть громче literally = “a bit louder” / “slightly louder”, which is exactly the idea:
- The piano is not just “loud”; it’s louder than the violin, but only a little.
чуть громко would mean “a bit loud”, not “a bit louder” – it doesn’t clearly express comparison to the violin.
чуть более громко is grammatically possible (“a little more loudly”), but it sounds:
- heavier / more formal
- not as natural in simple everyday description

So чуть громче is the most natural, compact way to say “a little louder (than the violin)”.

What exactly does чуть add here? How is it different from немного or чуть-чуть?

Чуть is an adverb meaning roughly “a little / slightly”, especially before comparatives:

чуть громче – a little louder
чуть тише – a little quieter

Nuance compared to others:

чуть
- Common before comparatives: чуть громче, чуть быстрее
- Suggests a small, often subtle difference, often neutral in style.
немного
- Can be used in more situations: немного громко, немного громче
- немного громче ≈ чуть громче, but немного can feel slightly more “measured” or neutral.
- немного громко = “a bit loud”, not necessarily comparing to something else.
чуть-чуть
- More colloquial and emotional, often with a “tiny bit” or “just a touch” feel.
- чуть-чуть громче – just a tiny bit louder.

In this sentence, чуть громче sounds natural and balanced: a noticeable but not big contrast with мягко.

Why is а used instead of и or но?

Russian has three common coordinating conjunctions here:

и – and (adds information, no contrast necessary)
а – “and / whereas” with a sense of contrast or comparison
но – but, strong opposition or contradiction

In the sentence:

Скрипка звучит мягко, а пианино чуть громче.

А shows a mild contrast:

the violin = soft
the piano = (somewhat) louder

If you used:

и: Скрипка звучит мягко, и пианино чуть громче. – grammatically OK, but it underplays the contrast; it sounds more like just listing facts.
но: … но пианино чуть громче. – feels stronger, like the loudness is unexpected or somewhat contrary to what you’d want.

А is perfect for this kind of calm, descriptive comparison: “whereas / while”.

What case are скрипка and пианино in, and how can I tell?

Both скрипка and пианино are in the nominative case as the subjects of their clauses.

Скрипка – nominative singular feminine (dictionary form).
Пианино – nominative singular neuter, indeclinable (also dictionary form).

You can tell they are nominative because:

They answer “What sounds…?” – What is doing the action?
They stand before (or logically govern) the verb звучит:
- Скрипка (что делает?) звучит…
- (Пианино) (что делает?) звучит…

If you changed the case, you’d normally see different endings or prepositions:

Я слушаю скрипку. – accusative (object)
Я играю на пианино. – prepositional with на

Here, the forms mark the subject role in the sentence.

Could the word order be Скрипка мягко звучит, а пианино громче? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order; Russian is flexible. But there are slight nuances:

Скрипка звучит мягко (original):
- More neutral, typical Subject – Verb – Adverb order.
- Emphasis is smooth and evenly on “sounds softly”.
Скрипка мягко звучит:
- Still correct.
- Puts a bit more focus on мягко; the softness is highlighted slightly more:
  “The violin softly sounds…”

In everyday speech, the original (Скрипка звучит мягко) feels more standard.
Changing the word order doesn’t change the basic meaning, but it can shift which part feels more emphasized.

With the second clause, people usually keep it short:

… а пианино чуть громче.
If you add the verb back:
… а пианино звучит чуть громче.
This is also perfectly natural.

How do you pronounce the whole sentence, including stress?

Stressed syllables marked with ´:

Скри́пка звучи́т мя́гко, а пиани́но чуть гро́мче.

Approximate pronunciation (Latin letters):

Skrípka zvuchí́t myá́gka, a pianí́no chutʹ GROM-che.

Notes:

скрипка – stress on скри́-.
звучит – stress on -чи́т. Final т is clearly pronounced.
мягко – stress on мя́г-; гк is often pronounced close to [хк].
пианино – stress on -ни́-: пи-а-ни́-но.
чуть – final ть is soft; tongue goes towards ть after ч.
громче – stress on гро́м-; ч is soft ([ч’]).

If you listen to native speech, the whole sentence flows quite smoothly, with a small intonational rise-fall at мя́гко and then a contrasting phrase а пиани́но чуть гро́мче.

Why is there a comma before а?

In Russian, when а joins two independent clauses (each with its own subject and verb), you must put a comma before it.

Here we have two clauses:

Скрипка звучит мягко,
а пианино (звучит) чуть громче.

Each could stand alone as a sentence (with звучит restored in the second), so they are two independent clauses coordinated by а.
Rule: Independent clause , а independent clause.

You would not use a comma if а just connects short similar parts of a phrase, like:

мягко а не резко – softly, not sharply (shorter, no full clause).

Here, it clearly separates two full statements, so the comma is required.

In English we say “the violin” and “the piano”. Russian has no articles in Скрипка звучит мягко, а пианино чуть громче. How do you know if it means “the violin/piano” or “a violin/piano”?

Russian doesn’t have articles, so скрипка and пианино can correspond to:

the violin / the piano
a violin / a piano
even violins / pianos in general, depending on context.

How to interpret it:

General statement about these instruments as types
- Very likely reading here:
  “The violin (as an instrument) sounds soft, whereas the piano (as an instrument) is a little louder.”
Specific instruments in a given situation
- If the context is a particular performance (you’re listening to one violin and one piano):
  - Then you would translate as:
    “The violin sounds soft, and the piano is a bit louder.” (meaning that violin and that piano).

Since Russian doesn’t mark this difference grammatically, the choice between “a” and “the” in English depends on:

prior context
how generic or specific the statement feels

In isolation, English speakers usually choose “The violin sounds soft, and the piano a bit louder” because it works both as a generic statement about instruments and as a description of a particular situation.