Questions & Answers about Этот апельсин сладкий.
Why is there no word for "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the present tense of the verb "to be" is almost always left out. Instead of saying "This orange is sweet", you just say "This orange sweet."
I usually see это used for "this". Why is it этот here?
If you want to say "This is an orange", you use the default neutral word это: Это апельсин. But when "this" points directly to a specific noun (like "This orange"), it has to match the gender of that noun. Since апельсин is masculine, we must use the masculine form этот.
Why does the adjective сладкий end in -ий instead of the usual masculine ending -ый?
This happens because of a very common Russian spelling rule. After the letter к (as well as г, х, ж, ч, ш, and щ), you can never write the letter ы. You must write и instead. That is why the word is сладкий and not сладкый.
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