Learn Hardcore Russian: Послезавтра я принесу новый кабель, потому что старый провод слишком короткий. - The day after tomorrow I will bring a new cable because the old cord is too short.

послезавтра is a fixed time adverb formed from после (after) + завтра (tomorrow) to mean “the day after tomorrow.” In modern Russian such compounds are always written as one word rather than two separate words.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” before новый кабель? How do I know it’s indefinite?

Russian has no articles like “a” or “the.” Definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context, word order, intonation or additional words. Here, новый кабель simply means “a new cable,” and you understand it’s indefinite from the situation.

Why is the perfective verb принесу used instead of an imperfective form?

The speaker refers to a single completed action in the future—bringing the cable. Perfective verbs such as принести form a simple future (я принесу) for one-off events. Using the imperfective приносить would imply a repeated or ongoing action (e.g. “I’ll be bringing cables repeatedly”).

How is the future tense of принести formed?

Perfective verbs lack a present tense, so their “present-form” endings serve as the future. For принести you get: • я принесу
• ты принесёшь
• он/она принесёт, etc.
Imperfective verbs (приносить) require the auxiliary быть for future: я буду приносить.

In which case are новый кабель and старый провод, and how can I tell?

They’re in the accusative case as direct objects of принесу. Masculine inanimate nouns have the same form in nominative and accusative, so кабель and провод look unchanged but function as ACC.

Why do the adjectives новый, старый and короткий all end in “-ый”?

They modify masculine singular inanimate nouns in the nominative/accusative case, so they take the hard-stem adjective ending “-ый” (новый кабель, старый провод, короткий провод).

What role does потому что play, and are there alternatives?

потому что is the conjunction “because,” introducing a clause that gives the reason. Alternatives include так как or из-за того что, but потому что is the most common in everyday speech.

How does слишком work? Can it modify any part of speech?

слишком is an adverb meaning too. It normally precedes the adjective or another adverb it modifies (e.g. слишком короткий, слишком быстро). It does not directly modify verbs; to express excessive quantity you might say слишком много + genitive (e.g. слишком много работы).

Is including я necessary in “я принесу”? Could I drop it?

No, it’s optional. Russian is a pro-drop language: verb endings usually indicate the subject. You can say Принесу новый кабель and it still means “I will bring a new cable,” though adding я can add emphasis or clarity.

Can I change the word order, for example say Я послезавтра принесу новый кабель or start with the reason clause?

Word order in Russian is flexible. You can say: • Я послезавтра принесу новый кабель
• Принесу новый кабель послезавтра
Putting послезавтра first highlights the time. Technically you can start with Потому что…, but in formal writing it’s more natural to lead with the main clause and then the потому что-clause.

What’s the difference between кабель and провод? Why use both here?

Both mean “cable” or “wire,” but провод often refers to a single conductor (like a bare electrical wire), while кабель denotes a thicker, insulated or multi-wire assembly (like a power cord or network cable). In this sentence the old провод (wire) is too short, so the speaker will bring a proper кабель.