Questions & Answers about Это большой район.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
Russian generally skips the verb 'to be' in the present tense. You simply place the subject and its description next to each other. Literally, the sentence is 'This a big district.'
Why do we use Это (which looks neuter) when район is masculine?
When pointing something out and saying 'This is a...', you always use the fixed word Это, regardless of the noun's gender. You only need to match the masculine gender (using Этот) if you are saying 'this district' (этот район) rather than 'this is a district'.
Why does the word for 'big' end in -ой here instead of -ая or -ое?
The adjective большой must match the gender of the noun it describes. Because район ends in a consonant (-н), it is a masculine noun. Therefore, we use the masculine form of the adjective.
Since we are learning how to say where things are located, how would I change район to say something is in a district?
To say 'in a district', you use the preposition в and add the Prepositional case ending -е to the noun, making it в районе.
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