На премьере нового фильма первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.

Breakdown of На премьере нового фильма первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.

на
at
быть
to be
новый
new
фильм
the movie
полностью
completely
первый
first
сеанс
the screening
премьера
the premiere
заполненный
full
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Questions & Answers about На премьере нового фильма первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.

Why is it на премьере and not в премьере?

Russian often uses на with events, activities, and gatherings, where English would say at:

  • на премьере – at the premiere
  • на концерте – at the concert
  • на лекции – at the lecture
  • на выставке – at the exhibition
  • на вечеринке – at the party

The preposition в is used more with physical enclosed spaces (rooms, buildings, cities, etc.):
в кинотеатре, в комнате, в Москве.

A премьера is treated as an event, not a place, so Russian uses на, not в.

What case is премьере, and why does it end in ?

Премьере is in the prepositional case (предложный падеж).

  • Nominative: премьера (the premiere)
  • Prepositional: (на) премьере (at the premiere)

With static location (being somewhere) after на, you normally use the prepositional case:

  • на работе (at work)
  • на концерте (at a concert)
  • на премьере (at the premiere)

So премьера → премьере follows the standard pattern for feminine nouns ending in .

Why is it нового фильма and not новый фильм?

Нового фильма is in the genitive case, because it depends on the noun премьера:

  • премьера чего?нового фильма
    premiere of what? – of the new film

In Russian, when one noun describes another in the sense of “X of Y”, the second noun is usually in the genitive:

  • обложка книги – the cover of the book
  • начало спектакля – the beginning of the play
  • премьера фильма – the premiere of the film

So:

  • Nominative: новый фильм (a/the new film)
  • Genitive: нового фильма (of the new film)

The adjective нового is also in the genitive, agreeing with фильма in case, number, and gender.

Why does нового end in -ого instead of -ый?

Новый is the nominative masculine singular form. In the genitive masculine singular, -ый changes to -ого:

  • Nominative: новый фильм (new film)
  • Genitive: нового фильма (of the new film)

This is a standard pattern for hard-stem adjectives:

  • большой дом → большого дома
  • интересный концерт → интересного концерта
  • русский фильм → русского фильма

So нового is simply the correct genitive form matching фильма.

What exactly does сеанс mean here?

In this context, сеанс means a screening / showing of a film (a scheduled time when the movie is shown to an audience).

Common uses of сеанс:

  • сеанс фильма – a screening of a film
  • сеанс в кинотеатре – a movie showing at a cinema
  • сеанс массажа – a massage session
  • сеанс связи – a communication session

So первый сеанс is the first screening/time slot, not “the first film.”

Why is первый сеанс in the nominative case?

Первый сеанс is the subject of the sentence:

  • первый сеанс – subject
  • был полностью заполнен – predicate (was completely full)

In Russian, the subject normally appears in the nominative case, just like in English:

  • Первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.

If you changed the structure so that первый сеанс became an object, then you would use a different case, but here it is the thing that “was full,” so nominative is required.

What is заполнен grammatically, and how is it different from заполненный or полный?

Заполнен is a short passive participle (краткое страдательное причастие) of the verb заполнить (to fill).

Compare:

  1. заполнен – short passive participle

    • Used mainly in the predicate, often with быть, to describe a resulting state:
    • Сеанс был полностью заполнен. – The screening was completely filled (full).
  2. заполненный – full passive participle

    • Used more like an adjective, often in front of a noun:
    • заполненный зал – a filled hall
    • полностью заполненный зал – a completely filled hall
  3. полный – ordinary adjective meaning full:

    • полный зал – a full hall
    • сеанс был полным – the screening was full (less natural than зал был полным, “the hall was full”)

In your sentence, был полностью заполнен emphasizes the resulting state after people have filled all the seats. Using the short participle is the most natural choice here.

Why do we need был? Could we say первый сеанс полностью заполнен?

Был is the past-tense form of быть (to be). It makes the sentence clearly past tense:

  • Первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.
    The first screening was completely full (in the past).

Without был, you get a sentence that can sound more like a general description, a headline, or present-time comment:

  • Первый сеанс полностью заполнен.
    The first screening is completely full (right now) / was completely full (context-dependent).

In everyday speech, Russians often omit был when the past is obvious from context, but in neutral written style, including был is clearer and more standard here.

Can the word order be changed, for example: Первый сеанс был полностью заполнен на премьере нового фильма?

Yes, that word order is grammatically correct:

  • На премьере нового фильма первый сеанс был полностью заполнен.
    Starts with where/when (at the premiere), then gives what happened.

  • Первый сеанс был полностью заполнен на премьере нового фильма.
    Starts with what (the first screening), then adds where it was full.

Both mean the same basic thing. The difference is mainly in emphasis:

  • Beginning with На премьере нового фильма highlights the event (the premiere) as the context.
  • Beginning with Первый сеанс highlights the screening as the topic.

Russian word order is relatively flexible; it is often used to manage focus and emphasis, not basic grammar roles.

Can we move полностью? For example, первый сеанс был заполнен полностью?

Yes, you can move полностью:

  • первый сеанс был полностью заполнен
  • первый сеанс был заполнен полностью

Both are correct and natural. The meaning is basically the same: completely full.

Subtle difference:

  • полностью заполнен – the adverb comes before the participle; this is stylistically very neutral and common.
  • заполнен полностью – the adverb comes after; this can slightly stress the idea of “filled completely (not partially)”, but the nuance is small.

In most contexts, they are interchangeable.