Этот вариант не стоит лишних денег.

Breakdown of Этот вариант не стоит лишних денег.

не
not
деньги
the money
этот
this
лишний
extra
вариант
the option
стоить
to be worth / should
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Questions & Answers about Этот вариант не стоит лишних денег.

Why is it Этот вариант and not Эта or Это?

Because вариант is a masculine noun in Russian.

  • Masculine singular nominative: этот вариант
  • Feminine would be эта … (e.g., эта идея)
  • Neuter would be это … (e.g., это место)
    Here the subject of the sentence is этот вариант.

What exactly is стоит grammatically?

стоит is the 3rd-person singular present tense form of the verb стоить (to cost / to be worth).
So (он) стоит = it costs / it’s worth.
With не, не стоит = is not worth / does not cost (in the sense of “is not worth paying”).


Does не стоит mean “doesn’t cost” or “isn’t worth”? Which one is meant here?

Both meanings exist, but in this structure it normally means isn’t worth (paying).

  • Это стоит 100 рублей. = It costs 100 rubles.
  • Это не стоит 100 рублей. = It isn’t worth 100 rubles / It’s not worth paying 100 rubles for it.
    In your sentence, the presence of лишних денег strongly pushes the “not worth paying extra” meaning.

Why is денег in the genitive plural?

Because стоить requires the thing/amount it “costs/is worth” in the genitive case. The noun деньги is plural-only, and its genitive plural form is денег.
You can see the pattern with other nouns too:

  • стоит времени = is worth (the) time (genitive)
  • стоит усилий = is worth the effort (genitive plural)
    So (не) стоит денег is a very common collocation.

Why is лишних in the genitive plural too?

Adjectives agree with the nouns they describe in case, number, and gender. Since денег is genitive plural, the adjective must also be genitive plural: лишних.
Dictionary form: лишний (masc.), лишняя (fem.), лишнее (neut.)
Genitive plural: лишних.


What does лишних mean here—“extra,” “unnecessary,” or something else?

Here лишних means extra / additional / more than you want to spend. It often implies “unnecessary” in context, but the core idea is “beyond the planned/normal amount.”
So лишних денегextra money (on top of what you’d otherwise pay).


Could I say Этот вариант не стоит лишние деньги (accusative) instead?

No—after стоить, Russian uses genitive, not accusative: стоить чего?
So it must be не стоит лишних денег, not не стоит лишние деньги.


Is the word order fixed? Can I move things around?

The neutral order is exactly what you have: Этот вариант не стоит лишних денег.
But Russian word order is flexible, and changes emphasis:

  • Лишних денег этот вариант не стоит. (emphasis on extra money)
  • Этот вариант лишних денег не стоит. (slightly more contrastive/colloquial)
    All are grammatical; your original sounds the most neutral.

How is this different from Этот вариант не стоит своих денег?

They’re related but not the same.

  • не стоит лишних денег = not worth extra money (i.e., upgrading/paying more for this option isn’t justified)
  • не стоит своих денег = not worth its price at all (the whole price feels unjustified)
    So лишних suggests a comparison with a cheaper alternative or base version.

Where is the stress in this sentence?

Common stresses are:

  • Э́тот вариа́нт не сто́ит ли́шних де́нег.
    Key points: сто́ит (stress on о), вариа́нт (stress on the final а́), де́нег (stress on де́).