Questions & Answers about День жаркий.
Since день ends in a soft sign, how do we know its gender?
Why does the masculine adjective жаркий end in -ий instead of the standard -ый?
This happens because of a very important Russian spelling rule. You can never write the letter ы after the letters к, г, х, ж, ч, ш, or щ. The base of the word ends in к (жарк-), so we must use и instead of ы, giving us the ending -ий.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are) is almost always left out. To say 'The day is hot', you literally just say 'Day hot' (День жаркий).
If жаркий is an adjective, couldn't this phrase also mean 'a hot day'?
Yes! Because Russian doesn't use words for 'a' or 'the', and drops the word 'is', the exact same words (День жаркий) can mean 'a hot day' or 'The day is hot'. You will easily know which one it is based on the context of the conversation.
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