Learn Russian: Февраль — короткий месяц.

In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (is, am, are) is usually skipped. When linking a noun subject (Февраль) to what it is (короткий месяц), a dash is often used in writing to act as a bridge and replace the missing "is".

Февраль ends in a soft sign (-ь). How can I tell if it's masculine or feminine?

Nouns ending in a soft sign can be either masculine or feminine, so you usually just have to memorize their gender. But here is a handy shortcut: all months of the year in Russian are masculine! Because it is masculine, it takes the masculine adjective короткий.

Why does короткий end in -ий instead of the usual masculine adjective ending -ый?

This is due to a famous Russian spelling rule. After the letters к, г, х, ж, ч, ш, and щ, you are not allowed to write the letter ы. You must use и instead. Because the root of this word ends in к, it has to be written as короткий rather than "короткый".

I have seen месяц translated as "moon" before. How do I know it means "month" here?