Breakdown of Эти рестораны дорогие, а не дешёвые.
не
not
а
and (contrastive)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
ресторан
restaurant
дорогой
expensive
дешёвый
cheap
Questions & Answers about Эти рестораны дорогие, а не дешёвые.
Why do we use эти instead of это here?
If you just want to state "These are restaurants", you would use the fixed word это (Это рестораны). However, in this sentence, "These" is pointing to and attaching directly to the noun ("These restaurants"). Because of this, it must change to match the plural noun рестораны. The plural form for "this/these" is эти.
Where is the word for "are" in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always skipped. You simply put the subject (Эти рестораны) right next to the adjectives describing them (дорогие).
Why do the plural adjectives дорогие and дешёвые have different endings (-ие vs -ые)?
The standard plural ending for adjectives is -ые, which you see in дешёвые. However, Russian has a strict spelling rule: you can never write the letter ы after the letters г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, or щ. Since the stem for "expensive" ends in г (дорог-), you must replace the ы with и, making the plural form дорогие.
Why use the conjunction а here instead of но (but)?
а is used to show a direct contrast or a correction between two things. It is very common in "X, and not Y" or "not X, but Y" sentences. While но is used to add surprising or conflicting information (like "expensive, but tasty"), а is used here because you are directly contrasting the opposing ideas of expensive and cheap.
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