Questions & Answers about Конец был очень интересный.
Why do we use был for "was" instead of была or было?
In the past tense, Russian verbs change their endings to match the gender of the subject. The subject here is конец (end). Because it ends in a consonant, it is a masculine noun, so we must use the masculine past tense form был.
Why does интересный (interesting) end in -ый?
Adjectives have to match the noun they are describing. Since конец is a masculine noun, the adjective takes the standard masculine ending -ый. If we were describing a feminine noun like книга (book), it would be интересная.
Why does the "o" in Конец sound like an "a"?
This is because of Russian vowel reduction! The stress in конец falls on the second syllable. When the letter о is unstressed, it is pronounced like an "a". So it sounds more like "kah-NYETS".
What does the soft sign (ь) do at the end of очень?
The soft sign does not make a sound by itself. Instead, it softens the consonant before it. For очень, it means you pronounce the н softly, pressing your tongue against the roof of your mouth, similar to the "ny" sound in "canyon".