Breakdown of Хотя это трудный процесс, мы покрываем керамику глазурью по-новому.
это
this / it is
мы
we
трудный
difficult
процесс
process
хотя
although
керамика
the ceramics
покрывать
to coat
глазурь
the glaze (f)
по-новому
in a new way
Questions & Answers about Хотя это трудный процесс, мы покрываем керамику глазурью по-новому.
How exactly is по-новому formed from the adjective новый?
To create an adverb meaning "in a [adjective] way," Russian takes the dative masculine/neuter form of the adjective (новому), adds the prefix по-, and connects them with a hyphen. This pattern is very common for describing how an action is done, like по-другому (in a different way) or по-старому (in the old way).
Why is глазурь (glaze) in the instrumental case (глазурью)?
The verb покрывать (to coat/cover) requires the accusative case for the thing being covered (керамику) and the instrumental case for the material you are covering it with (глазурью). It behaves like an instrument, translating literally to "we cover the ceramics by means of glaze."
The ending for глазурью looks a bit unusual. How does this noun decline?
Глазурь is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь), which puts it in the 3rd declension (like ночь or дверь). In the instrumental case, these feminine nouns take the ending -ью, making it глазурью.
Why do we use это instead of the masculine этот to match the masculine noun процесс?
Here, это is acting as a standalone pronoun meaning "this is" (This is a difficult process). If you used этот, it would act as a demonstrative adjective attached to the noun, making the phrase mean "Although this difficult process..." and leaving the clause without a subject and verb.
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