Что нового?

what's new?

Questions & Answers about Что нового?

Why is there no verb in Что нового?

Because Russian normally omits the present-tense form of to be.

So where English says What is new?, Russian simply says Что нового?

There is an understood is/are, but it is not spoken:

• Что нового? = What’s new?

This is completely normal Russian, not an incomplete sentence.

Why is it нового, not новое or новый?

This is one of the most common questions learners have.

Нового is the genitive singular form of новый (new), and here it is being used in a very idiomatic pattern after что.

So Что нового? literally feels more like:

• What of the new stuff?
• What new things are there?

That is why Russian uses нового, not новое.

This same pattern appears in other very common expressions:

• Ничего нового. = Nothing new.
• Что интересного? = What’s interesting? / Anything interesting?
• Много полезного. = A lot of useful things.

So it is best to learn что нового as a fixed expression.

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