Learn Hardcore Russian: Сегодня у нас два варианта: либо весёлая комедия, либо серьёзная драма. - Today we have two options: either a fun comedy or a serious drama.

In this sentence, Сегодня у нас два варианта literally is Today at us are two options, which is naturally translated as Today we have two options.

Why is there no word like есть (the verb to be / to have) in the sentence?

The full form could be:

Сегодня у нас есть два варианта.

However, in the present tense, есть is often omitted when talking about possession or existence, especially if the focus is on what you have, not on the fact of having.

So:

У нас два варианта is completely normal and very common.
У нас есть два варианта is also correct, but it sounds a bit more emphatic or contrastive (for example, if someone expected you to have no options).

Why is it два варианта and not два вариантов?

Russian numerals affect the case and form of the noun:

After 2, 3, 4, masculine and neuter nouns usually take genitive singular.
After 5 and higher, they take genitive plural.

Вариант is masculine, so:

один вариант (nominative singular)
два / три / четыре варианта (genitive singular)
пять вариантов (genitive plural)

So два варианта is the correct form here.

Why is it два варианта, not две варианта?

Russian has two forms for two:

два – used with masculine and neuter nouns
две – used with feminine nouns

Since вариант is masculine, you must use два:

два варианта (masculine)
две книги (feminine книга)
два окна (neuter окно)

What exactly does вариант mean here? Is it only variant, or also choice?

In everyday Russian, вариант is very often used where English would say option or choice:

У нас два варианта – We have two options / choices.
Какой вариант ты выбираешь? – Which option do you choose?

It can also mean version or way of doing something:

Это один из вариантов решения проблемы. – This is one of the ways/variants of solving the problem.

So here вариант is best understood as option.

Why is there a colon after два варианта?

In Russian, a colon is used to introduce an explanation, list, or clarification of what was just mentioned.

Сегодня у нас два варианта: либо весёлая комедия, либо серьёзная драма.

First, the speaker says there are two options, then the colon introduces what those options are. This is very similar to English usage:

We have two options: either a funny comedy or a serious drama.

What is the difference between либо … либо … and или … или … or just или?

All of them can mean or, but there are nuances:

или – the most common or, used in almost any context.
- комедия или драма – a comedy or a drama.
либо – stylistically a bit more formal or “bookish”, and often used in set pairs:
- либо … либо … emphasizes alternatives, roughly either … or ….
- It can sound slightly more categorical or structured.

In this sentence, либо весёлая комедия, либо серьёзная драма could also be said as:

или весёлая комедия, или серьёзная драма, or
весёлая комедия или серьёзная драма.

All are acceptable; либо … либо … just sounds a bit more like a neat, explicit choice between two options.

Why are весёлая and серьёзная feminine?

Adjectives in Russian must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

комедия – feminine, singular, nominative → весёлая must also be feminine singular nominative.
драма – feminine, singular, nominative → серьёзная must match that.

So we get:

весёлая комедия
серьёзная драма

If the nouns were masculine, the adjectives would change:

весёлый фильм
серьёзный фильм

Why are комедия and драма in the nominative case here?

The structure after два варианта is basically listing what the options are. You can imagine an implied verb, like:

Сегодня у нас два варианта: (это будет) весёлая комедия или серьёзная драма.

Because комедия and драма are the things being equated with the options (they are the “names” of the options), they are in the nominative case, as if they were the subject or a predicate noun.

So the pattern is:

Два варианта: (либо) [NOM], (либо) [NOM].

No preposition or verb is forcing them into another case.

What cases do we see in the whole sentence?

Сегодня – adverb (no case).
у нас – нас is genitive plural of мы after the preposition у.
два варианта – варианта is genitive singular of вариант (because of the numeral два).
весёлая комедия – комедия is nominative singular, весёлая agrees.
серьёзная драма – драма is nominative singular, серьёзная agrees.

So the main cases here are genitive (нас, варианта) and nominative (комедия, драма and their adjectives).

Can I change the word order, for example to У нас сегодня два варианта? Does it sound different?

Yes, Russian word order is more flexible than English. These are all possible:

Сегодня у нас два варианта.
У нас сегодня два варианта.

Both are natural. The difference is mostly in what is emphasized or presented first:

Сегодня у нас… – slightly more focus on today (today, as opposed to some other day).
У нас сегодня… – slightly more focus on we / our situation today.

In everyday speech, both variants are very common and the difference is subtle.

Why is there a comma before the second либо?

When a conjunction like либо (or или) is repeated in a sentence – либо … либо …, или … или … – Russian punctuation normally uses a comma between the two parts:

либо весёлая комедия, либо серьёзная драма
или чай, или кофе

The comma separates the two alternative options in the pair.

How do you pronounce the words in this sentence, especially with ё?

Stresses and ё:

Сегодня – se-вод-ня (сево́дня; stress on о which sounds like о in stressed position: see-VOD-nya).
у нас – нас is stressed: oo NAS.
два варианта – вариа́нта, stress on а: dva va-ree-AN-ta.
либо – ли́бо, stress on the first syllable: ли́-бо.
весёлая – весёлая, stress always falls on ё in Russian: ve-SYO-la-ya.
комедия – коме́дия, stress on е: ka-ME-di-ya.
серьёзная – серьёзная, stress on ё: seer-SYOZ-na-ya.
драма – дра́ма, stress on а: DRA-ma.

Remember: the letter ё is always stressed and pronounced as yo.