Breakdown of Эта башня — самое старое здание в городе.
здание
building
город
city
старый
old
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
самый
most
башня
tower
Questions & Answers about Эта башня — самое старое здание в городе.
Why is it самое старое (neuter) if the sentence is about Эта башня (a feminine noun)?
Even though the sentence starts with the feminine noun башня (tower), the adjectives самое старое belong directly to the word здание (building). Because здание is a neuter noun, the words describing it must also take the neuter endings (-ое).
How do we form the superlative ("the oldest") in this sentence?
To say "the most" or add "-est" to an adjective, Russian frequently uses a form of the word самый followed by the regular adjective. Both words have to match the gender, case, and number of the noun they describe. Since здание is neuter nominative, we use the neuter forms for both words: самое + старое.
Why is there a long dash (—) in the middle of this sentence?
The dash acts like an equal sign. In Russian, the present tense forms of the verb "to be" (am, is, are) are almost always skipped. When you connect a noun subject (башня) to another noun describing what it is (здание), you usually put a dash in place of the missing "is".
Why does the sentence end with в городе instead of в город?
В городе is in the prepositional case, which is used to indicate a static location (answering the question "where?"). If you were talking about movement or direction to the city, you would use the accusative case (в город).
Learn Эта башня — самое старое здание в городе and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free