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Questions & Answers about Это просто вода.
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. Because of this, Это просто вода literally translates as "This just water".
The word вода is feminine. Why do we use Это instead of the feminine Эта?
When you are introducing or pointing something out with the phrase "This is...", you always use the fixed word Это, no matter the gender of the noun. You would only use the feminine Эта if you were saying "This water..." (Эта вода...).
I know просто can mean "simple" or "simply". Does it really mean "just" here?
Yes! While it means "simply", просто is the most common way in everyday Russian to say "just" when you are downplaying something, exactly like we say "It is just water" in English.
Why does the letter "o" sound like "a" in вода but not at the start of просто?
In Russian, the letter о only makes an "o" sound when the spoken stress falls on it, like the first о in просто. When it is unstressed, it sounds like "a". The о in вода and the final о in просто are unstressed, so they sound like "a".