Questions & Answers about Лимон очень кислый.
Why is there no word for "is" in this sentence?
In Russian, the verb "to be" is almost always left out in the present tense. Instead of saying "A lemon is very sour," you just put the subject and adjective together: "Лимон очень кислый" (Lemon very sour). If you were talking about the past, you would need to add the verb back in: "Лимон был очень кислый" (The lemon was very sour).
The translation says "A lemon," but could this also mean "The lemon"?
Yes! Russian doesn't have articles like "a" or "the". Лимон can mean "a lemon," "the lemon," or even just "lemon" in general. You figure out which one the speaker means based on the context of the conversation.
Why does кислый end in -ый?
Кислый (sour) is an adjective, and it must match the gender and case of the noun it describes. Because лимон is a masculine noun acting as the main subject (nominative case), the adjective takes the standard masculine ending -ый. If you were describing a feminine noun, like ягода (berry), it would change to кислая.
How would I change this sentence to say "Lemons are very sour" in the plural?
You would change both the noun and the adjective to their plural forms. Лимон becomes лимоны, and the adjective кислый changes its ending to -ые to match. The plural sentence is "Лимоны очень кислые."
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