Breakdown of Сложно выбрать только один ответ.
только
only
ответ
answer
выбрать
to choose (perfective)
сложно
it is complicated, difficult
Questions & Answers about Сложно выбрать только один ответ.
Why is the perfective verb выбрать used here instead of the imperfective выбирать?
Here, the focus is on the result of the action—successfully making a single choice. You aren't talking about the ongoing process of deliberating (выбирать), but the concrete, completed action of finalizing one answer (выбрать).
Why do we use сложно instead of the adjective сложный?
This is an impersonal sentence, meaning there is no specific grammatical subject. When translating the English structure "It is [adjective] to [verb]", Russian uses the predicative adverb form ending in -о (like сложно) followed by an infinitive.
Since один ответ is the direct object of the verb выбрать, shouldn't it be in the accusative case?
It actually is in the accusative case! Because ответ is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative form is identical to its nominative form. The number один follows this same rule, so it stays один rather than changing to одного (which is the form you would use for animate masculine nouns, like a person or animal).
Could I use трудно instead of сложно in this sentence?
Yes, they are highly interchangeable here. If you want to be extremely precise, сложно implies something is intellectually complicated (it shares a root with words for "putting together" or "folding"), while трудно implies it takes hard work, exertion, or emotional effort (related to труд, meaning labor).