Breakdown of Это один из лучших ресторанов в городе.
это
this / it is
город
city
ресторан
restaurant
хороший
good
один из
one of
Questions & Answers about Это один из лучших ресторанов в городе.
The current lesson is about один meaning "alone". Why does it mean "one" here?
The phrase один из specifically means "one of". When один means "alone", it usually stands by itself to describe a person's state, like in он живёт один (he lives alone). Here, it acts as a pronoun representing a single item from a group.
Why do we use the neuter Это when ресторан is a masculine noun?
When pointing something out or introducing a new subject with the phrase "This is...", Russian always uses the default neuter form Это. You only match the gender (like using the masculine Этот) when saying "This [noun]", such as Этот ресторан (This restaurant).
Why are лучших ресторанов in the genitive plural case?
The preposition из (out of / from) always forces the following words into the genitive case. Since we are talking about a group of restaurants, both the adjective and the noun take the genitive plural endings.
I learned that лучший means "better". Can it also mean "best"?
Yes! In Russian, the same word лучший is often used for both "better" and "best". When used in a phrase like один из лучших (one of the best), the superlative meaning (best) is clear from the context.
Why is the ending for the city в городе rather than в город?
Because it describes a static location answering the question "where?" (in the city), so we use the prepositional case. You would use the accusative case в город only if you were describing motion toward a destination, like going "to the city".
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