Breakdown of В городе много узких улиц.
город
city
улица
street
много
a lot
в
in / to (direction)
узкий
narrow
Questions & Answers about В городе много узких улиц.
Why does узких end in -их instead of -ых?
The word много (many) requires the Genitive plural. Usually, adjectives take -ых in this case, but узкий (narrow) has a stem ending in к. Because of the 7-letter spelling rule (never write ы after к, г, х, ш, ж, ч, щ; write и instead), the ending must be -их.
Why is the word for streets just улиц here?
The dictionary form is улица, which is a feminine noun ending in -а. To form the Genitive plural after много, feminine nouns ending in -а drop that final vowel completely. This leaves us with just the stem, улиц.
Why are both узких and улиц in the Genitive plural?
The quantity word много (many) forces the thing you are counting into the Genitive case. Since there are multiple streets, it has to be Genitive plural (улиц). In Russian, adjectives must always match the case and number of the noun they describe, so the adjective must also change to its Genitive plural form, узких.
Where is the Russian translation for "there are" in this sentence?
Russian does not use a direct translation for "there is" or "there are" in the present tense. By simply stating the location (В городе) and the quantity of things (много узких улиц), the concept of "there are" is naturally understood without needing an extra verb.
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