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Questions & Answers about Институт недалеко.
Why is there no word for "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb "to be" is almost always left out in the present tense. Instead of saying "The institute is not far," you literally just say Институт недалеко (Institute not far).
Can I write не далеко as two separate words?
Usually, it is written as one word: недалеко (meaning "near" or "close by"). You would only write them separately as не далеко if you were making a direct contrast, like "not far, but very close." For a simple statement like this, it is always one word.
Why doesn't институт have a special ending here?
It stays in its basic dictionary form (called the nominative case) because it is the main subject of the sentence. Since the word ends in a hard consonant, we know it is a masculine noun.
How do you pronounce the vowels in недалеко?
The stress in недалеко is on the very last letter (the о). Because Russian speakers relax the vowels in unstressed syllables, the first е and the а sound much weaker and shorter than they would if they were stressed.