Learn Russian: Журнал новый и интересный, а словарь старый. - The magazine is new and interesting, but the dictionary is old.

In Russian, а is used to show a contrast or a comparison between two things (like comparing the new magazine with the old dictionary). You can often think of it as "whereas" or "while." We use но when there is a direct contradiction or an unexpected twist, like "The dictionary is old, but good."

Is the comma before а required?

Yes! In Russian punctuation, you must always put a comma before the conjunctions а (and/whereas) and но (but). Notice that there is no comma before и (and) here, because it is simply connecting two adjectives that describe the same noun.

There is no word for "is" in this sentence. Is that correct?

Yes, it is perfectly correct. In the present tense, Russian almost always omits the verb "to be." So Журнал новый literally means "Magazine new," but it translates to "The magazine is new."

The word словарь ends in a soft sign (-ь). How do I know it takes the masculine adjective старый?

Nouns ending in a soft sign can be either masculine or feminine, and you generally have to memorize their gender when you learn them. However, if you see it paired with старый (a masculine adjective), that gives away that словарь is masculine. If it were feminine, the adjective would be старая.

Why do новый, , and all have the exact same ending?