Word
Это оранжевый карандаш.
Meaning
This is an orange pencil.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Это оранжевый карандаш.
How would I ask 'What kind of pencil is this?' using the question words from this lesson?
You would ask Какой это карандаш? Since карандаш (pencil) is a masculine noun, the question word meaning 'what kind of' must also be the masculine form, какой.
Why does оранжевый end in -ый?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. The word карандаш is masculine because it ends in a consonant. Therefore, the adjective takes the standard masculine ending -ый.
Since карандаш is masculine, why do we use the neuter word это to start the sentence?
When pointing something out and saying 'This is a...', you always use the fixed form это, no matter the gender of the noun. You only match the gender if 'this' is attached directly to the noun to mean 'this specific item', like in этот карандаш (this pencil).
Why is there no word for 'is' in this sentence?
Russian drops the verb 'to be' in the present tense. To say 'This is an orange pencil', you literally just say 'This orange pencil'.