Breakdown of Этот худой мужчина — известный актёр.
мужчина
man
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
известный
famous
актёр
actor
Questions & Answers about Этот худой мужчина — известный актёр.
Why do we use the masculine words этот and худой when мужчина ends in "-а" like a feminine word?
Even though мужчина (man) ends in "-a", which is usually a feminine ending, it refers to a male person, so it is grammatically masculine. Because of this, all adjectives and pointing words that describe it must take their masculine forms, like этот (this) and худой (thin).
Why is there a dash (—) in the middle of the sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" (am, is, are) is almost always left out. When you connect a noun subject (мужчина) directly to a noun describing what they are (актёр), a dash is written to stand in for the missing "is".
Is the letter "т" in известный pronounced?
No, the т in известный is silent. It is pronounced as if it were written "извесный". This is a common rule in Russian: in the consonant cluster "-стн-", the "т" is dropped in speech to make the word easier to say.