Breakdown of Во-вторых, работа очень трудная.
работа
work, job
очень
very
трудный
difficult
во-вторых
secondly
Questions & Answers about Во-вторых, работа очень трудная.
How do we form sequence words like во-вторых (secondly)?
To say firstly, secondly, thirdly, etc., Russian uses the prefix в- or во-, a hyphen, and the ordinal number in the prepositional plural case. For example, the word for second is второй. Its prepositional plural form is вторых, giving us во-вторых.
Why does it use во- instead of just в-?
The prefix в- becomes во- to make pronunciation easier when the attached word starts with certain consonant clusters, especially those beginning with в or ф. Since вторых starts with вт, we use во- to avoid an awkward double consonant sound.
Is the comma after во-вторых strictly necessary?
Yes! In Russian, sequence and introductory words like во-первых, во-вторых, and кстати must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
Could I use тяжёлая instead of трудная to say the work is hard?
Yes, работа очень тяжёлая is also perfectly correct but has a slightly different flavor. While трудная implies the work is complex, mentally difficult, or requires problem-solving, тяжёлая literally means heavy and suggests the work is physically exhausting or emotionally draining.