Сегодня крайне холодно.

Russian often omits the present-tense verb to be. So where English says It is very cold today, Russian can simply say Сегодня крайне холодно.

This is completely normal. In the present tense, Russian usually does not use a word equivalent to is in sentences like this.

So the structure is roughly:

• Сегодня = today
• крайне = extremely
• холодно = cold

The idea of it is is understood automatically.

Here холодно is not an adjective agreeing with a noun. It is used as a predicative adverb / category of state word, meaning it is cold or the weather is cold.

That is why it ends in -о and stays unchanged.

Compare:

• Холодный ветер = a cold wind
  
  • холодный is an adjective describing ветер
• Сегодня холодно = It is cold today
  
  • холодно describes the situation or environment, not a noun

So in this sentence, холодно means it is cold, not cold in the sense of modifying a noun.

Because there is no masculine noun being described.

• холодный = masculine adjective form, used with a masculine noun
  
  • холодный день = a cold day
• холодно = used impersonally to describe the weather, temperature, or a general feeling
  
  • На улице холодно = It’s cold outside

If you say Сегодня крайне холодный, the sentence feels incomplete, because холодный needs a noun: день, ветер, воздух, etc.

For example:

• Сегодня крайне холодный день = Today is an extremely cold day
• Сегодня крайне холодно = Today it is extremely cold

Крайне means extremely, highly, or exceptionally. It is stronger and a bit more formal or emphatic than очень.

Compare:

• Сегодня очень холодно = Today it is very cold
• Сегодня крайне холодно = Today it is extremely cold

So yes, they are similar, but крайне is stronger and often sounds more formal or more intense.

In everyday speech, очень is more common.
Крайне is perfectly correct, but it can sound more elevated, dramatic, or written depending on context.

No. Сегодня here is functioning as an adverb meaning today.

It does not change for case in this use.

So in this sentence:

• сегодня = today
• it tells you when something is true

You can think of it as a time adverb, similar to now, tomorrow, or yesterday.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and changing it can shift emphasis.

These are all possible:

• Сегодня крайне холодно.
• Крайне холодно сегодня.
• Холодно сегодня.
• Сегодня холодно.

The most neutral version here is Сегодня крайне холодно.

Very roughly:

• Сегодня крайне холодно = neutral, starting with the time
• Крайне холодно сегодня = stronger emphasis on extremely cold
• Холодно сегодня = conversational, often with focus on the coldness

So the meaning stays similar, but the information focus can change.

Yes. This is an impersonal construction.

That means there is no real grammatical subject like it in English. Russian often describes weather, physical states, and general conditions without a subject.

Examples:

• Темно. = It’s dark.
• Жарко. = It’s hot.
• Холодно. = It’s cold.
• Мне холодно. = I am cold. / It is cold to me.

So Сегодня крайне холодно is an impersonal statement about the general condition today.

Then you would usually say:

• Мне сегодня крайне холодно.

Here мне is in the dative case and literally means something like to me. Russian commonly uses this structure for sensations:

• Мне холодно. = I am cold.
• Мне жарко. = I am hot.
• Мне плохо. = I feel bad.

So:

• Сегодня крайне холодно = Today it is extremely cold
• Мне сегодня крайне холодно = I am extremely cold today

That is an important difference.

The stress is:

• сегоднЯ
• крАйне
• хОлодно

A simple pronunciation guide:

• сегодня ≈ see-VOD-nya
• крайне ≈ KRY-ne
• холодно ≈ KHO-ləd-nə

A couple of useful pronunciation notes:

• In fast speech, сегодня is often pronounced closer to сиводня than a careful letter-by-letter reading.
• Unstressed о is reduced, so холодно does not sound like every o is a clear o.

Yes, absolutely.

• Сегодня крайне холодно = Today it is extremely cold
• На улице крайне холодно = It is extremely cold outside
• Сегодня на улице крайне холодно = Today it is extremely cold outside

Adding на улице makes the location explicit. Without it, the sentence is still very natural and usually understood as a statement about the weather or general temperature.

It is natural and correct, but it is somewhat stronger and a little more formal than очень холодно.

In everyday conversation, many speakers would more often say:

• Сегодня очень холодно.
• Сегодня так холодно.
• Сегодня ужасно холодно.

But Сегодня крайне холодно is still good Russian. It may sound a bit more deliberate, emphatic, or written depending on the context.

No. Холодно can describe several kinds of cold:

1. Weather / environment

   • На улице холодно. = It’s cold outside.

2. How a place feels

   • В комнате холодно. = The room is cold.

3. A person’s physical sensation

   • Мне холодно. = I am cold.

So in Сегодня крайне холодно, the default reading is usually about the day’s weather or general temperature, but the word itself is not limited only to weather.

A useful literal breakdown is:

• Сегодня = today
• крайне = extremely
• холодно = cold / it is cold

So a very literal English gloss would be:

Today, extremely cold.

But natural English needs a subject and verb, so we translate it as:

Today it is extremely cold.

That is a good example of how Russian often expresses general states more compactly than English.