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Questions & Answers about Мой автомобиль новый.
Why is there no word for 'is' in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is almost never used. You simply put the subject and the description right next to each other, exactly like saying 'My car new'.
I thought the word for 'car' was машина. Why use автомобиль?
You can absolutely use машина, which is the most common, everyday word for 'car'. The word автомобиль is a bit more formal, much like the English word 'automobile', though it is still widely used in Russian.
The word автомобиль ends in a soft sign (-ь). How do I know its gender?
What would this sentence look like if I used машина instead?
Because машина ends in -а, it is a feminine noun. You would need to change the describing words to match its feminine gender, making the sentence: Моя машина новая.