Breakdown of По мнению критиков, это его лучший фильм.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
фильм
movie
лучший
best
критик
critic
по мнению
in the opinion of (+ genitive)
Questions & Answers about По мнению критиков, это его лучший фильм.
How does the phrase по мнению критиков work grammatically?
The phrase starts with the preposition по (according to), which requires the dative case. That gives us по мнению (according to the opinion). To specify whose opinion it is, we use the genitive case right after it. Therefore, the plural noun критики (critics) becomes критиков (of the critics).
Is the comma after критиков mandatory?
Yes. Introductory phrases that indicate the source of a statement or an opinion, such as по мнению (in the opinion of) or по словам (according to the words of), must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma in Russian.
Why is лучший used here instead of самый лучший for 'best'?
While самый лучший is very common in everyday speech, лучший on its own already means 'best' (it is the synthetic superlative form of хороший). Using just лучший sounds a bit more formal and elegant, which perfectly fits the context of reading professional film reviews.
Why do we use the neuter это when фильм is a masculine noun?
In this sentence, это acts as a standalone demonstrative pronoun meaning 'this is' or 'that is'. When used as this fixed introductory word to identify what something is, это is always in the neuter form, regardless of the gender of the noun that follows it (like the masculine фильм).
Learn По мнению критиков, это его лучший фильм and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free