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Questions & Answers about Война — жестокая вещь.
Why is there an em dash (—) in the middle of this sentence?
The dash replaces the present tense of the verb "to be" (is). In Russian, when you equate one noun (война) with another noun phrase (жестокая вещь), you use a dash to link them together instead of a verb.
Жестокая (cruel) has a feminine ending. Does that mean вещь is feminine?
Exactly. Nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) can be either masculine or feminine. Вещь is feminine, so any adjectives describing it must take the feminine ending -ая or -яя. Here, we use -ая.
If щ is already a "soft" consonant, why does вещь need a soft sign (-ь) at the end?
You're right that щ is always pronounced soft, so the -ь doesn't change the sound here. Instead, it acts as a grammatical marker. In Russian, all feminine nouns that end in a "hushing" consonant (ж, ш, ч, or щ) must be written with a soft sign at the end.
Could I use дело instead of вещь to say "War is a cruel thing"?
While дело (matter/business) is used in similar idioms, вещь is perfectly natural here. Russian often uses вещь to refer not just to physical objects, but to abstract concepts and phenomena when making broad, philosophical statements.