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Questions & Answers about Это нормальный день.
Why is there no word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is almost never used. Instead of saying 'This is a normal day', you simply say the equivalent of 'This a normal day'.
Since день is a masculine noun, why do we use the neuter word Это instead of the masculine Этот?
When you are introducing or pointing something out ('This is a...'), you always use the fixed word Это, regardless of the noun's gender. You would only use the masculine Этот if you were saying 'This day' as a single connected phrase, like in Этот день нормальный (This day is normal).
How do we know день is masculine when it ends in a soft sign?
Why does нормальный end in -ый?
The ending -ый is a standard ending for masculine adjectives in the nominative case (the basic dictionary form). It is used here to match the masculine noun день.