Questions & Answers about Кафе недалеко.
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. You simply put the subject (кафе) and its description (недалеко) right next to each other.
Is недалеко written as one word or two?
Here, it is written as one single word. By attaching the prefix не- (not) directly to the adverb далеко (far), Russian creates a brand new adverb meaning 'near' or 'not far'.
Does недалеко change its ending if we talk about plural cafes?
No. Just like хорошо and плохо from this lesson, недалеко is an adverb. Adverbs never change their endings to match the gender or quantity of the nouns they describe.
Why does кафе end in -е instead of a typical noun ending?
Кафе is a borrowed foreign word. Many imported nouns ending in -е, -и, or -у are 'indeclinable'. This means they don't follow normal Russian noun rules and their spellings never change, no matter their role in the sentence.
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