Его трюк — это вовсе не чудо, а ловкость рук.
His trick is not a miracle at all, but sleight of hand.
Breakdown of Его трюк — это вовсе не чудо, а ловкость рук.
это
this / it is
не
not
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
а
and (contrastive)
рука
hand
чудо
miracle
трюк
trick
вовсе
at all
ловкость
dexterity
Questions & Answers about Его трюк — это вовсе не чудо, а ловкость рук.
How does вовсе не change the meaning compared to just using не here?
While не simply means 'not', adding вовсе makes it an emphatic negation: 'not at all' or 'by no means'. In this sentence, вовсе не is used to strongly contradict the viewer's assumption that the trick was magic. It shows the speaker is actively debunking a false idea.
Why do we need the dash and это before вовсе не чудо?
In Russian, when both the subject (трюк) and the core predicate (чудо) are nouns in the nominative case, a dash is typically used to link them, acting like the verb 'is' in English. Adding это after the dash is optional but very common, as it helps anchor the sentence structure when extra words like вовсе не separate the two main nouns.
Why is а used for 'but' here instead of но?
The conjunction а is used because this sentence involves a direct replacement: 'not X, but Y' (не чудо, а ловкость). You must use а when the second part completely corrects or substitutes the negated first part. The word но is used for contrast or adding a limitation (like 'It is a trick, but a good one'), which does not fit this 'instead of' structure.
What does the phrase ловкость рук literally mean?
It literally translates to 'dexterity of hands' or 'agility of hands'. The word ловкость is a noun meaning dexterity or agility, and рук is the genitive plural of рука (hand or arm). Together, it is the standard Russian set phrase for 'sleight of hand'.
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