Questions & Answers about Это не книга, это стол.
Since книга is a feminine word and стол is masculine, why does the sentence use the same word это for both?
When introducing or pointing something out ('This is...'), Russian uses the fixed word это regardless of the noun's gender. You would only change the gender if you were saying 'this specific book' (эта книга) instead of 'this is a book'.
Where is the verb 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is almost always left out. The word это means 'this', but it acts as 'this is' because the 'is' is simply understood from the context.
How does the negative word не work here?
The word не means 'not', and it is always placed immediately before the word it negates. Here, it goes right before книга to mean 'not a book'.
Why is there just a comma separating these two statements?
In English, joining two complete sentences with just a comma is usually a punctuation error. However, Russian grammar allows you to use a comma to connect two closely related or contrasting short statements like these.
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