Если корень слабый, росток может засохнуть.

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Breakdown of Если корень слабый, росток может засохнуть.

• мочь: to be able
• слабый: weak
• росток: the sprout

Questions & Answers about Если корень слабый, росток может засохнуть.

Why is there no word for is in Если корень слабый?

In Russian, the verb to be is usually omitted in the present tense.

So:

корень слабый = the root is weak

Literally, Russian says something closer to root weak, but it is understood as a complete sentence. This is very normal in Russian.

Why is слабый and not some other form?

Слабый is the masculine singular nominative form of the adjective weak.

It matches корень, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the agreement is:

• слабый корень = a weak root
• корень слабый = the root is weak

Even though the adjective comes after the noun here, it still agrees with it in gender, number, and case.

Could this sentence use слаб instead of слабый?