Жаркая погода мешает мне спать.

Hot weather prevents me from sleeping.

Breakdown of Жаркая погода мешает мне спать.

• мне: me
• погода: the weather
• жаркий: hot
• спать: to sleep
• мешать: to prevent

Questions & Answers about Жаркая погода мешает мне спать.

Why does the verb мешает take мне in the dative case instead of an accusative object?

In Russian, мешать (“to hinder, to interfere with”) requires the person who is being bothered to be in the dative case. Grammatically, it’s “something мешает кому-то + infinitive.” Here мне is the dative pronoun “to me.”

Why is спать in the infinitive form without any preposition or particle?

After verbs of hindrance or permission (e.g. можно, нельзя, мешать, давать/не давать) you simply use the infinitive to express the action. No preposition (like “to” in English) is needed before the infinitive in Russian.

Why is it жаркая погода (hot weather) instead of just жарко (it’s hot)?

• жарко is an adverb meaning “it’s hot” (a comment on the temperature).
• жаркая погода is a noun phrase (“hot weather”) with жаркая as an adjective modifying погода. You need that noun subject (жаркая погода) to perform the action of the verb мешает.

What case is погода in, and why?

Погода is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence. The subject “does” the action—in this case, “hot weather” is doing the hindering.

Can I change the word order to Жаркая погода мне мешает спать? Would it still be correct?

Yes. Russian has relatively free word order. Placing мне before мешает is grammatically fine and can slightly shift the emphasis onto “me,” but the overall meaning remains the same.

Could I say Мне мешает спать жара instead of жаркая погода?

Absolutely. жара (“the heat”) is a feminine noun in the nominative case. Мне мешает спать жара is a common, more concise way to say “the heat prevents me from sleeping.”

What’s the difference between мешать and препятствовать?

• мешать is a colloquial verb meaning “to bother” or “to get in the way of” (mild interference).
• препятствовать is more formal/literary, meaning “to obstruct” or “to impede” in a stronger or more official sense. You could say жаркая погода препятствует мне спать, but it sounds more bookish.

Can I use не даёт instead of мешает here?

Yes. Не даёт мне спать literally “doesn’t let me sleep” is a very common colloquial alternative. It often feels a bit stronger—more like “won’t allow me to sleep”—but in everyday speech you can use it interchangeably with мешает мне спать.