Questions & Answers about Идёт дождь, тем не менее я иду в парк.
Why is дождь used as the subject with the verb идёт, and what does идёт дождь literally mean?
In Russian weather expressions like идёт дождь, дождь (“rain”) is the grammatical subject of the impersonal verb идёт (“is going”). Literally it’s “rain is going,” but idiomatically it means “it’s raining.”
What part of speech is тем не менее, and how does it function here?
тем не менее is a conjunctive adverb meaning “nevertheless,” “nonetheless,” or “however.” It introduces a contrast between two clauses—in this case, showing that despite the rain, you’re still going to the park. You can often swap it for однако (“however”) or всё же (“still”).
Why is there a comma before тем не менее, and should there be one after it?
Because тем не менее links two independent clauses, Russian punctuation requires a comma or semicolon before it. In formal writing you also set it off with a comma after it:
• Идёт дождь, тем не менее, я иду в парк.
In less formal contexts the second comma is often dropped:
• Идёт дождь, тем не менее я иду в парк.
Why is the park in the accusative case after в—в парк—instead of another case?