Learn Russian: Директор занят сегодня.

In Russian, the verb "to be" is skipped in the present tense. So Директор занят literally means "Director busy," but it translates to "The director is busy."

Why does the word занят look different from a regular adjective?

занят is a "short-form" adjective. Russian often uses these shorter versions for temporary states or conditions, like being busy, ready, or glad. Because the director here is masculine, we use the masculine form занят.

How would the sentence change if the director is a woman?

Even though the word Директор usually stays the same, the adjective must match the gender of the specific person you are talking about. You would use the feminine short-form adjective by adding an -а to the end: Директор занята сегодня.

Why is the letter г in сегодня pronounced like a "v"?

In a few very common words and certain grammatical endings, the Russian letter г is pronounced as a "v" sound. The word сегодня comes from an older phrase meaning "of this day" which used this special ending. It is best to just memorize the pronunciation as "se-vod-nya"!