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Questions & Answers about Где автобус десять?
Why is there no word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are) is almost always left out. So, instead of saying 'Where is bus ten?', Russian just says 'Where bus ten?'.
In English, we say 'bus ten' for a route. Is it exactly the same in Russian?
Yes! When a number acts as a name or a label for a route, Russian uses the regular counting numbers (cardinal numbers) placed after the noun. So автобус десять translates perfectly to 'bus ten'.
Since автобус is a masculine noun, do we have to use a masculine form of десять?
No. Unlike the numbers 1 and 2, which change to match the gender of the noun they describe, the number десять (and all numbers from 3 to 10) does not have masculine, feminine, or neuter forms. It stays exactly the same!
How does the soft sign (ь) at the end of десять change how it sounds?
The soft sign (ь) doesn't make a sound of its own. Instead, it tells you to pronounce the consonant right before it softly. In десять, it makes the т sound softer, with a very quick, slight 'y' sound right at the end.