Моя сестра умеет готовить вкусный борщ.

Because сестра is a feminine singular noun, and the possessive pronoun my has to agree with it.

So:

• мой = masculine singular
• моя = feminine singular
• моё = neuter singular
• мои = plural

Since сестра is feminine, you say моя сестра.

Умеет is the 3rd person singular form of the verb уметь, which means to know how to or to be able to (because of skill).

The subject is моя сестра = my sister, which is she, so the verb must match she:

• я умею = I know how to
• ты умеешь = you know how to
• он / она умеет = he / she knows how to
• мы умеем
• вы умеете
• они умеют

So моя сестра умеет means my sister knows how to / can.

This is a very common question.

• уметь = to know how to do something, to have the skill
• мочь / может = to be able to, often in the sense of possibility, permission, or circumstances

So in this sentence:

• Моя сестра умеет готовить... = My sister knows how to cook... / can cook... because she has the skill

If you said может, it would sound more like she is able to cook in a particular situation, not necessarily that she is skilled at it.

So умеет is the natural choice here.

Because after уметь, Russian normally uses the infinitive of the action.

So the structure is:

• уметь + infinitive

Examples:

• уметь читать = to know how to read
• уметь плавать = to know how to swim
• уметь готовить = to know how to cook

So умеет готовить literally means knows how to cook.

This is about aspect.

• готовить = imperfective
• приготовить = perfective

After уметь, Russian usually uses the imperfective, because it refers to a general skill, not one completed action.

So:

• умеет готовить = she knows how to cook, as a general ability

If you used приготовить, it would sound more like knowing how to prepare something to completion, which is less natural here when talking about overall cooking skill.

So умеет готовить is the standard way to say this.

It actually is in the correct form already.

The verb готовить takes a direct object, so борщ is in the accusative case.

But борщ is:

• masculine
• singular
• inanimate

For inanimate masculine singular nouns, the accusative looks exactly like the nominative.

So:

• nominative: вкусный борщ
• accusative: вкусный борщ

They look the same, even though the function is different.

The adjective вкусный also matches борщ in gender, number, and case.

Yes. Борщ is a masculine noun.

A useful rule is:

• many Russian nouns ending in a consonant are masculine

Since борщ ends in a consonant sound, it is masculine, which is why the adjective is вкусный, not вкусная or вкусное.

It usually means tasty, delicious, or good-tasting.

In many contexts, вкусный is the normal everyday word for food that tastes good.

So вкусный борщ can be translated naturally as:

• tasty borscht
• delicious borscht
• good borscht

The exact English wording depends on style, but the Russian is very natural.

No. It means she has the ability or skill to cook tasty borscht.

• умеет готовить = knows how to cook / can cook

If you wanted to say she is cooking right now, you would use готовит, not умеет готовить:

• Моя сестра готовит борщ. = My sister is cooking borscht.

So this sentence is about general ability, not a current action.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral order here is:

• Моя сестра умеет готовить вкусный борщ.

But you could change the order for emphasis, for example:

• Вкусный борщ моя сестра умеет готовить.
• Готовить вкусный борщ моя сестра умеет.

These alternatives are grammatically possible, but they sound more marked or emphatic. For a learner, the original order is the best and most neutral one to use.

Because Russian has no articles.

English uses:

• a
• an
• the

Russian does not. The meaning is understood from context.

So вкусный борщ could mean:

• a tasty borscht
• the tasty borscht
• simply tasty borscht

In this kind of sentence, English usually chooses the most natural option based on context.

A helpful version with stress marks is:

Моя́ сестра́ уме́ет гото́вить вку́сный борщ.

Approximate pronunciation:

• моя́ = ma-YA
• сестра́ = syes-TRA
• уме́ет = oo-MYE-yet
• гото́вить = ga-TO-vit
• вку́сный = VKOOS-nyy
• борщ = borshch

A few pronunciation notes:

• я in моя sounds like ya
• е after a soft consonant often sounds like ye
• щ in борщ is the soft shch sound
• unstressed о is often pronounced more like a

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Моя сестра умеет готовить вкусный борщ. = My sister knows how to cook tasty borscht.
• Моя сестра хорошо готовит борщ. = My sister cooks borscht well.

The first sentence emphasizes ability/skill in general. The second emphasizes that she does it well.

Both are natural, but they are not exactly the same.