Questions & Answers about Это красивая старая площадь.
If the word for square (площадь) is feminine, why does the sentence start with the neuter word это instead of the feminine эта?
In this sentence, это acts as a pointing word meaning "this is". When you introduce something by saying "this is" or "it is", you always use the fixed form это, no matter the gender of the noun that comes after it. If you wanted to say "this old square..." (without the "is"), then you would use the feminine form: эта старая площадь.
Why do the adjectives красивая and старая both end in -ая?
These adjectives describe the noun площадь (square). Because площадь is feminine, its adjectives must match its gender. For most adjectives in the basic dictionary form (the nominative case, used for the main subject of a sentence), the feminine ending is -ая.
Since площадь ends in a soft sign (-ь), how do I know it is feminine and not masculine?
Nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) are tricky because they can be either masculine or feminine, and you usually just have to memorize which is which. However, when reading this sentence, the feminine adjectives красивая and старая are a dead giveaway that площадь is a feminine noun!
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
Russian almost always skips the verb "to be" (am, is, are) in the present tense. You simply put the subject and the description side by side. Literally, this sentence translates to "This [is a] beautiful old square."