Потёртость очень маленькая.

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

So:

Потёртость очень маленькая.
literally looks like: Scuff very small.
but it means: The scuff is very small.

This is completely normal Russian. English needs is here, but Russian usually does not.

Потёртость is feminine.

A useful clue is the ending -ость. Many abstract nouns ending in -ость are feminine, for example:

• скорость = speed
• молодость = youth
• возможность = possibility

Also, the adjective маленькая is in the feminine form, which confirms that the noun is feminine.

Because Russian adjectives must agree with the noun they describe in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, потёртость is feminine singular nominative, so the adjective must also be feminine singular nominative:

• masculine: маленький
• feminine: маленькая
• neuter: маленькое
• plural: маленькие

So маленькая is the correct form for a feminine singular noun like потёртость.

It is in the nominative singular.

In this sentence, потёртость is the subject: it is the thing being described.
The adjective маленькая is also in the nominative singular because it agrees with the subject in this kind of sentence.

The soft sign ь does not add a vowel sound. Its main job is to show that the preceding consonant is soft.

In потёртость, it also helps mark the noun’s grammatical pattern. Many feminine nouns ending in -ость have this final ь.

So the ь is important both for pronunciation and for recognizing the noun type.

The letter ё is pronounced like yo in yonder or York, and it is always stressed.

So the stress in потёртость falls on -тёр-.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

po-TYOR-tostʹ

In real speech, unstressed о sounds weaker, so it may sound a bit closer to a than to a clear English o.

Also, in many Russian texts, ё is often written as е, but it is still understood as ё from context. For learners, seeing ё written out is very helpful.

Очень means very, and it is an adverb.

It modifies the adjective маленькая, making it stronger:

• маленькая = small
• очень маленькая = very small

Unlike adjectives, очень does not change its form. It stays очень no matter what noun or adjective comes after it.

In normal, neutral Russian, yes: очень usually comes before the adjective or adverb it modifies.

So:

очень маленькая = normal and natural

Putting очень after маленькая would sound unusual or wrong in ordinary speech.

Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, but the neutral order here is:

Потёртость очень маленькая.

If you change the order, the emphasis may change too. For example:

• Очень маленькая потёртость usually sounds more like a noun phrase: a very small scuff
• Маленькая потёртость also sounds like a noun phrase: a small scuff

So the original sentence order is the clearest way to say The scuff is very small.

In everyday Russian, the full adjective form is much more common in sentences like this:

• маленькая = normal, natural, everyday

The short form мала does exist, but it sounds more formal, bookish, or sometimes technical/literary.

So:

• Потёртость очень маленькая. = natural everyday Russian
• Потёртость очень мала. = possible, but less conversational

Yes, often you could.

• маленькая = small
• небольшая = small / not large

Небольшая can sound a little more neutral or formal, while маленькая is very common and everyday.

So Потёртость очень небольшая is possible, but очень маленькая is simpler and more natural for many basic contexts.