Questions & Answers about Это трудный случай.
Why do we use the neuter это here instead of the masculine этот, since случай is masculine?
When you use это to mean 'this is' or 'it is', it acts as a fixed introductory word and always stays neuter, regardless of the noun that follows. You would only use the masculine этот if it was pointing directly to a specific noun, like in the phrase этот трудный случай (this difficult case).
Since our current lesson is about the prepositional plural, how would I say 'in difficult cases' using the words from this sentence?
You would say в трудных случаях. The adjective трудный takes the hard plural prepositional ending -ых to become трудных. The noun случай ends in -й, which changes to the soft plural prepositional ending -ях, giving us случаях.
Does случай mean a physical 'case', like a suitcase or a phone case?
No, случай means an abstract case, instance, or event (like a medical case, a legal case, or a difficult situation). For a physical suitcase, you would use чемодан, and for a phone case, you would use чехол.
Could I use тяжёлый instead of трудный here?
Yes, and тяжёлый случай is actually a very common set phrase in Russian. While трудный means 'difficult' in the sense of requiring effort to solve, тяжёлый literally means 'heavy' but is widely used to mean a 'severe' or 'tough' case, especially in medicine or when jokingly referring to a stubborn person or a hopeless situation.
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