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Questions & Answers about Что это? Это книга.
Why is Что pronounced with an "sh" sound instead of "ch"?
Even though it starts with the letter ч (which usually makes a "ch" sound), the word что is a special exception and is almost always pronounced "shto". This is one of the most common pronunciation exceptions you will see in Russian.
When should I use Что instead of Кто?
Что means "what" and is used to ask about inanimate objects and abstract concepts, like книга (a book) in this sentence. If you are asking about a living thing, like a person or an animal, you would use Кто (who).
Where is the word for "is" in Что это and Это книга?
Russian simply drops the verb "to be" in the present tense. Instead of saying "What is this?" or "This is a book", you just place the words next to each other, literally saying "What this?" and "This book".
Since книга is a feminine noun, why do we use это instead of the feminine эта?
When you use это as a standalone subject meaning "this is" or "it is", it never changes its ending to match the noun. It stays in this default form. You would only use the feminine эта if you were saying "this book" as a single descriptive phrase, rather than the equation "this is a book".