Breakdown of Это яблоко кислое, а то сладкое.
это
this / it is
яблоко
apple
а
and (contrastive)
сладкий
sweet
тот
that
кислый
sour
Questions & Answers about Это яблоко кислое, а то сладкое.
Why is а used here instead of и for "and"?
In Russian, а is used to show a contrast or comparison between two things, often translated as "whereas" or "but". Since we are contrasting a sour apple with a sweet one, а is the natural choice. If you used и, it would sound like you are just adding items to a list rather than comparing their differences.
Why are the words for "this" and "that" spelled это and то?
They must match the gender of the noun they point to. The word for apple, яблоко, is a neuter noun. Because of this, you use the neuter demonstrative pronouns это (this) and то (that). If you were talking about a masculine noun like tea, you would use этот and тот.
Why do the adjectives кислое (sour) and сладкое (sweet) end in -ое?
Adjectives have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since яблоко is a neuter noun, the adjectives take the standard neuter ending -ое.
How does Russian express "that one is sweet" without the words "one" or "is"?
Russian leaves out the verb "to be" in the present tense, so there is no word for "is". Additionally, Russian doesn't use a filler word like "one". You just put the pronoun то (that) right next to the adjective сладкое (sweet), and the context makes it completely clear to a Russian speaker.
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