Questions & Answers about В записке был только адрес.
Why is the verb был masculine when the sentence starts with the feminine noun записка?
In Russian, the verb agrees with the grammatical subject of the sentence. Here, the subject is the masculine noun адрес (address), not the note. The sentence literally means 'In the note was only an address.' Russian frequently puts the location first and the subject last when stating that something exists in a particular place.
The English translation says 'The note had'. Why don't we use the Russian 'have' structure (у ... был)?
The у + genitive structure is typically used when people or animals possess something. For inanimate objects like a note, Russian prefers describing the physical location. So instead of saying the note 'possessed' an address, you say the address was located inside it using в (in) plus the prepositional case.
How does the word order affect the meaning here compared to Только адрес был в записке?
Russian places the most important, new information at the end of a sentence. В записке был только адрес focuses on WHAT was found (only an address). If you changed the order to Только адрес был в записке, the emphasis shifts to WHERE it was found, sounding more like 'The address was in the note (and nowhere else).'
What specific kind of note does записка refer to?