Questions & Answers about У них небольшая, но тёплая квартира.
Why use небольшая instead of маленькая?
While маленькая simply means small, небольшая (literally not large) is a softer, more tactful way to describe size. It acts similarly to the diminutive suffixes you are learning, softening the statement so it sounds less like a criticism and more like a polite or cozy observation.
If we wanted to apply this lesson's topic and use a diminutive to soften the sentence further, how would we change квартира?
You could use the diminutive form квартирка. Saying У них небольшая, но тёплая квартирка adds a strong sense of coziness and endearment, showing affection for their home rather than just stating its physical properties.
Why is небольшая written as a single word here rather than two separate words (не большая)?
In Russian, не is written together with an adjective when it creates a new concept that can be replaced by a synonym (like маленькая). You only write them as two separate words if there is a direct contradiction using а, for example: не большая, а маленькая (not big, but small). Here, но introduces a contrasting positive quality (warmth), not a contradiction of size.
Just to be sure, why is there a comma before но when it is only connecting two adjectives?
Unlike in English, Russian grammar requires a comma before contrasting words like но (but) and а (but/and) in almost every situation. This strict rule applies even when the word is just connecting two adjectives rather than two full sentence clauses.