Внезапно погас фонарь во дворе.

the streetlight

Breakdown of Внезапно погас фонарь во дворе.

• погаснуть: to go out
• двор: the yard
• во: in

Questions & Answers about Внезапно погас фонарь во дворе.

What is the literal, word‑for‑word translation of Внезапно погас фонарь во дворе?

A very literal breakdown is:

• Внезапно – suddenly
• погас – went out / went dark (past tense, masculine, perfective)
• фонарь – lantern / streetlight
• во дворе – in the yard / in the courtyard

So the most literal order in English would be: “Suddenly went out the lantern in the yard.”
Natural English: “Suddenly, the lantern in the yard went out.”

What form is погас? Is it a tense? What is the infinitive?

Погас is:

• past tense
• masculine singular
• perfective aspect

The infinitive is погаснуть – to go out, to go dark (completely).

Verb pair:

• гаснуть – imperfective: to be going out, to be fading
• погаснуть – perfective: to go out (as a completed event)

In this sentence, погас describes a completed event: the light went out at a specific moment.

Why is there no pronoun like он for фонарь? In English we would say “it went out.”