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Questions & Answers about Это новый мяч.
Why is there no word for "is" or "a" in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" is usually left out. So, "This is" is simply Это. Also, Russian doesn't have articles like "a" or "the", so новый мяч translates to "a new ball" depending on the context.
The word for ball (мяч) is masculine. Why does the sentence use Это (neuter) instead of the masculine form Этот?
When you are introducing or pointing something out by saying "This is...", you always use the fixed word Это, no matter the gender of the noun. You would only use the masculine Этот if you were saying "This ball" (Этот мяч), rather than "This is a ball".
Why does новый end in -ый?
The ending -ый is the standard ending for masculine adjectives. Adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Because мяч is masculine, новый takes the masculine ending.
How do I know that мяч is a masculine noun?
You can usually tell a Russian noun's gender by its last letter. Words that end in a consonant, like the ч in мяч, are almost always masculine.