Questions & Answers about Февраль — короткий месяц.
Why is there a dash (—) after Февраль?
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?
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?
Context! Месяц means both "month" and "moon" (specifically a crescent moon, while луна is used for the moon in general). Saying "February is a short moon" wouldn't make much sense, so you can safely assume it means "month" in this sentence.
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