Тишина и спокойствие помогают мне лучше концентрироваться на учёбе, зато шум только мешает.

Breakdown of Тишина и спокойствие помогают мне лучше концентрироваться на учёбе, зато шум только мешает.

и
and
на
on
мне
me
лучше
better
помогать
to help
шум
the noise
тишина
the silence
спокойствие
the tranquility
концентрироваться
to concentrate
учёба
the study
зато
whereas
только
only
мешать
to interfere
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Questions & Answers about Тишина и спокойствие помогают мне лучше концентрироваться на учёбе, зато шум только мешает.

Why are тишина and спокойствие in the nominative case, and why is the verb помогают in the plural form?

Тишина and спокойствие are the subjects of the sentence.
• In Russian, subjects take the nominative case.
• They’re joined by и, forming a compound (plural) subject, so the verb agrees in third-person plural: помогают.

What does зато mean, and how is it different from но or а?

зато means “on the other hand” or “whereas,” showing a compensating contrast.
но (“but”) simply contrasts two statements without that nuance of compensation.
а can also mean “but” or “and,” but is more neutral and often introduces a parallel or slight opposition.
Example:
 – Тишина помогает, зато шум мешает. (“Silence helps; on the other hand, noise hinders.”)

Why is мне in the dative case, and why is it omitted in the second clause with мешает?

• Both verbs помогать (“to help”) and мешать (“to hinder”) require a dative object (the person affected).
• So мне (to me) is in the dative case.
• In the second clause, мне can be repeated (шум только мешает мне), but it’s often dropped when the context already makes it clear.

Why does концентрироваться take на + prepositional case (на учёбе)?

• The reflexive verb концентрироваться (“to concentrate oneself”) requires the preposition на to indicate the focus.
• Whatever you concentrate on must be in the prepositional case: на учёбе (“on (my) studies”).

What case is учёбе, and how is it formed from учёба?

учёбе is the singular prepositional case of учёба (“study”).
• Feminine nouns ending in change to after prepositions like в or на.

Why is концентрироваться reflexive (with -ся)?

• The suffix -ся marks a reflexive or intransitive form.
• Here, концентрироваться literally means “to concentrate oneself,” emphasizing that the action refers back to the subject.

How do you pronounce учёбе, and where is the stress?

• The stress falls on the ё: у-ЧЁ-бе.
• Note that ё always carries the stress in Russian.

Can I use тиша instead of тишина, and are they interchangeable?

тишина is the standard noun for “silence.”
тиша is more colloquial or poetic.
• In everyday speech, тишина is preferred; тиша may sound literary or informal.

Why is шум singular here? Would it make sense to say шумы?

шум (“noise”) is usually an uncountable noun in Russian, so it stays singular.
шумы (“noises”) is possible if you refer to distinct, countable sounds (e.g., different noises in a city), but here we mean noise in general.

Is word order flexible? Could I say Мне помогают тишина и спокойствие...?

• Yes, Russian word order is quite flexible.
Мне помогают тишина и спокойствие... is grammatically correct.
• Placing мне at the front adds emphasis on “me,” but the overall meaning remains the same.