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Questions & Answers about Это одна копейка.
Why is the word for "one" одна instead of один here?
The number one in Russian changes its ending to match the gender of the noun it counts. Because копейка is a feminine noun (it ends in -а), we must use the feminine form одна instead of the masculine один.
Since копейка is feminine, why do we use это instead of the feminine эта?
When you are introducing something and saying "This is...", you always use the neutral word это, regardless of the noun's gender. You would only use the feminine эта if you were pointing out a specific item directly alongside the noun, like in the sentence эта копейка старая (this kopeck is old).
Where is the verb "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always skipped. The sentence literally translates to "This one kopeck", which is the correct and natural way to say "This is one kopeck".
How would the noun change if we had two kopecks instead of one?
After the numbers 2, 3, and 4, Russian nouns change to a form called the genitive singular. For most feminine words ending in -а, this means changing the ending to -и. So, to say "two kopecks", you would change the number and the noun to get две копейки.