Questions & Answers about Это утро спокойнее, чем вчерашнее.
Why does the sentence start with Это? Is it the same as this?
Это here works like this/it is and helps point to or identify the topic: Это утро… = This morning… / This is a morning that is…
In everyday Russian, это is very common in sentences like this. You can drop it, but it changes the feel:
- Это утро спокойнее, чем вчерашнее. (neutral, “this particular morning is…”)
- Утро спокойнее, чем вчерашнее. (more general/observational, like “The morning is…”)
Where is the verb to be (is/was) in Russian?
In the present tense Russian normally omits to be. So:
- Это утро (есть) спокойнее…
The implied есть is almost never said in modern neutral speech.
Why is утро neuter, and does that affect anything here?
Утро is a neuter noun (it ends in -о and is grammatically neuter). This affects agreement in forms like:
- вчерашнее (утро) — neuter singular nominative to match утро
But спокойнее is a comparative form and does not change for gender/number, so you don’t make it neuter.