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)?
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.