Breakdown of В этих духах — тончайшие ноты.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
в
in / to (direction)
тонкий
subtle, keen
духи
perfume
нота
note (musical, diplomatic)
Questions & Answers about В этих духах — тончайшие ноты.
How do we get the form тончайшие from its base adjective?
The base adjective is тонкий (thin, delicate). When forming the morphological superlative, stems ending in к, г, or х undergo a consonant mutation. Here, к changes to ч. Because of this mutation, we must use the suffix -айш- instead of the standard -ейш-. Finally, we add the plural nominative ending -ие to agree with ноты.
Why does the sentence use the plural form в этих духах for the perfume?
The Russian word for perfume is духи. It is a word that only ever exists in the plural form, much like "scissors" or "clothes" in English. This is true whether you are talking about one bottle of perfume or a whole collection. Here it takes the prepositional plural ending, giving us в этих духах.
Is духи related to the Russian word for "spirits" or "ghosts"?
Yes, they share the same root and spelling, but they are distinguished by stress. The word for "spirits" has the stress on the root (ду́хи), while "perfume" has the stress on the ending (духи́). In the prepositional case used here, the stress remains on the ending: духа́х.
What is the purpose of the dash in the middle of the sentence?
The dash acts as a placeholder for an omitted verb, translating roughly to "there are" or "feature". While Russian frequently drops the present tense of "to be" without adding punctuation, using a dash here indicates a natural spoken pause and places slight emphasis on the second half of the sentence.
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