Question 1

Why do we use была here instead of был or было?

Accepted Answer

In the past tense, the verb for "to be" must match the gender of the subject. The subject here is улица (street). Because улица ends in -а, it is a feminine noun, so we must use the feminine past tense form была.

Question 2

Why is the word for "this" эта instead of the usual это?

Accepted Answer

Это is the neuter form, which is often used as a general "this is" (like Это улица - This is a street). However, when "this" directly points to a specific noun ("this street"), it acts as an adjective and has to match that noun's gender. Since улица is feminine, we use the feminine form эта.

Question 3

Does the adjective красивая end in -ая for the same reason?

Accepted Answer

Exactly! Adjectives also have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since улица is feminine, the adjective takes the feminine ending -ая to become красивая. If we were talking about a masculine noun like дом (house), it would take a masculine ending and become красивый.

Question 4

Why is не placed before очень instead of before была?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, the word не (not) goes directly in front of the specific word it negates. Here, we are saying the street was "not very" beautiful, so не goes right before очень (very). If you wanted to say the street simply wasn't beautiful at all, you would drop очень and put the "not" before the verb or adjective.

Раньше эта улица была не очень красивая.

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