Если кожа чувствительная, лучше выбирать мягкое мыло.

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Breakdown of Если кожа чувствительная, лучше выбирать мягкое мыло.

• лучше: better
• выбирать: to choose
• мыло: the soap

Questions & Answers about Если кожа чувствительная, лучше выбирать мягкое мыло.

Why is it Если кожа чувствительная and not something with когда?

Если means if. It introduces a condition:

• Если кожа чувствительная, ... = If the skin is sensitive, ...

Russian uses если for conditional statements, just like English if.

Когда means when, so it would sound different:

• Когда кожа чувствительная, ... = When the skin is sensitive, ...

That is possible in some contexts, but если is the most natural choice for general advice like this.

Why is чувствительная in the full form, not чувствительна?

Russian adjectives can have a full form and, for many adjectives, a short form.

Here:

• чувствительная = full form
• чувствительна = short form

Both can sometimes mean sensitive, but they are used a little differently.

In this sentence, кожа чувствительная sounds like describing a general characteristic: the skin is sensitive / the skin is of a sensitive type.

The short form кожа чувствительна is also grammatical, but it often sounds more like stating a condition or property in a more formal or concise way.

So:

• кожа чувствительная = very natural in everyday language
• кожа чувствительна = also possible, slightly different in tone