Эта вещь оказалась подделкой.

this

Breakdown of Эта вещь оказалась подделкой.

• оказаться: to turn out
• вещь: the thing
• подделка: the fake or counterfeit

Questions & Answers about Эта вещь оказалась подделкой.

Why is it эта, not этот or это?

Because вещь is a feminine singular noun in the nominative case, and эта has to agree with it.

Agreement here is:

• эта = feminine singular nominative
• вещь = feminine singular nominative

So:

• этот would be masculine
• это would be neuter

How do we know вещь is feminine? It ends in -ь, which seems confusing.

That is a very common point of confusion.

In Russian, nouns ending in -ь can be either masculine or feminine. The ending alone does not tell you the gender with certainty, so you often just have to learn it together with the word.

вещь is feminine, and you can see that from agreement:

• эта вещь
• вещь оказалась

Both эта and оказалась show feminine agreement.

Why is the verb оказалась feminine?