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Questions & Answers about Суп гострий.
Why is there no verb to be in “Суп гострий”?
In Ukrainian, the present‐tense form of the verb бути (“to be”) is normally dropped. A sentence like Суп гострий literally reads “Soup spicy,” but it functions as “The soup is spicy.”
Why aren’t there any articles (like “a” or “the”)?
Ukrainian has no definite or indefinite articles. Context tells you whether you mean “a soup” in general or “the soup” in particular. So Суп гострий can be understood either as “Soup is spicy” (in general) or “The soup is spicy” (in context).
What is the usual word order of noun + adjective in Ukrainian?
When an adjective describes a noun directly, it normally precedes it (e.g. гострий суп “spicy soup”). However, in a short predicative sentence you put the noun first and the adjective second: Суп гострий (“(The) soup is spicy”).
What case, gender, and number are суп and гострий here?
Both are in the nominative singular masculine. Суп is a masculine noun (it ends in a consonant), and гострий is its agreeing adjective form in nominative singular masculine.
How do you make the sentence negative?
Place не before the adjective:
Суп не гострий.
This means “The soup is not spicy.”
How do you turn it into a question: “Is the soup spicy?”
You can simply use rising intonation:
Суп гострий?
Or you can add the question particle чи for formality:
Чи суп гострий?
Can гострий mean anything other than “spicy”?
Yes. Гострий also means “sharp” (as in a knife) or “keen” (as in senses or intelligence). With суп, though, it specifically means “spicy” or “hot.”
How do you say “The soup is very spicy”?
Add an adverb like дуже (“very”):
Суп дуже гострий.