Learn Hardcore Russian: Иногда дядя зачем‑то выходит куда‑то без телефона, и мы не можем ему позвонить. - Sometimes my uncle for some reason goes out somewhere without his phone, and we can’t call him.

In Russian, the present tense of an imperfective verb is the normal way to talk about repeated / habitual actions, especially with adverbs like иногда, часто, обычно.

Иногда дядя выходит… = “Sometimes uncle goes out / will go out / is in the habit of going out…”
The verb выходит here is imperfective present, showing a general, repeated action, not a single event.

If you said дядя выходил без телефона, it would usually describe repeated actions in the past only (e.g. “Back then, he used to go out without his phone”), not his general, current habit.

So: Russian present imperfective ≈ English “present simple” for habits.

What’s the difference between выходит, уходит and идёт here? Why use выходит?

All three involve movement, but they focus on different things:

выходить / выйти
- basic meaning: “to go out (from inside to outside)”
- emphasizes crossing a boundary (house → street, office → corridor, etc.)
- дядя выходит: uncle goes out (leaves the building/room).
уходить / уйти
- basic meaning: “to leave, to go away (from here to somewhere else)”
- emphasizes departure and not being here anymore, not specifically “from inside to outside”.
идти / пойти
- basic meaning: “to go / walk” (on foot), neutral about inside/outside or departure.

In выходит без телефона, the idea is “he goes out (of the house / office) without his phone”, so выходит is the most natural choice.

What exactly does зачем‑то mean, and what does the ‑то add?

зачем = “why / for what purpose”
Adding ‑то makes it indefinite, roughly “for some reason” (which is unknown, unclear, or not important).

So:

зачем – a direct “why?” (you want the reason)
зачем‑то – “for some (reason) or other”, often with a feel of puzzlement or mild annoyance.

In this sentence, зачем‑то suggests the speaker doesn’t really understand why the uncle goes out without his phone, or finds it a bit strange. It’s not just neutral information.

What does куда‑то mean, and how is it different from just куда?

куда = “where to?” / “to what place?” (direction)
- Куда он выходит? – “Where is he going (out) to?”
куда‑то = “(to) somewhere (or other)” – unspecified direction
- выходит куда‑то – “goes out somewhere” (we don’t know or don’t care where).

Compare with related adverbs:

где‑то – somewhere (location, not movement)
откуда‑то – from somewhere (origin)
когда‑то – sometime (at some time)

So куда‑то tells you there is some destination, but it’s vague or irrelevant, and it sounds very natural and colloquial.

Why do we say мы не можем ему позвонить and not мы не можем позвонить его?

The key point is the verb звонить / позвонить:

звонить / позвонить кому – to call someone (on the phone)
→ it always takes the dative case: кому? – ему, ей, им, etc.

So:

позвонить ему – to call him (on the phone) ✅
позвонить его – wrong for “call him (on the phone)” ❌

If you use его (accusative), that usually goes with another verb:

звать / позвать кого – to call someone by name, to call (someone over)
- позвать его – to call him (e.g. shout his name, call him over).

So:

phone call → звонить / позвонить кому (ему)
calling someone over → звать / позвать кого (его).

Why is позвонить in the infinitive after мы не можем? Is this a special construction?

Yes, this is a standard pattern:

мочь (“can / to be able to”) is a modal verb.
It is normally followed by an infinitive:
- мы можем позвонить – we can call
- мы не можем позвонить – we can’t call

So the structure is:

(кто?) + мочь (в нужной форме) + (не) + infinitive

In your sentence:

мы – subject
не можем – “cannot”
ему позвонить – infinitive phrase “to call him”.

That’s exactly how possibility/ability is expressed in Russian.

Why is the word order мы не можем ему позвонить? Could we also say мы не можем позвонить ему?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

мы не можем ему позвонить
мы не можем позвонить ему

Differences:

Pronouns (like ему) often appear earlier in the sentence, so ему позвонить is very typical and sounds natural.
мы не можем ему позвонить is a bit more neutral.
мы не можем позвонить ему slightly emphasizes the action “call” more than the pronoun, but the difference is subtle.

In everyday speech, you’ll hear both. Russian word order is relatively flexible; it’s used mostly to show focus and emphasis, not grammar.

Why is it без телефона and not some other case? What does без do to the noun?

The preposition без (“without”) always requires the genitive case.

телефон – nominative
без телефона – genitive singular

Some common examples:

без денег – without money
без работы – without a job
без шума – without noise

So без телефона is simply “without a phone / without his phone”, and the genitive is required by the preposition без, not by the meaning of the noun itself.

In English we’d usually say “my uncle”. Why is there no мой before дядя?

In Russian, possessive words like мой, твой, его are not used as often as “my, your, his” in English.

Especially with:

family members (мама, папа, дядя, бабушка, брат, сестра, etc.)
close people (друг, подруга, муж, жена)
parts of your own body (рука, голова, ноги, etc.)

If it’s clear from context whose uncle it is, Russians will just say:

дядя – uncle
моя мама vs just мама (often just мама in speech)

You can say мой дядя here, but it would sound slightly more formal or deliberately specific. Иногда дядя… is perfectly natural and usually understood as “Sometimes my uncle…”.

Why is it Иногда дядя… and not Дядя иногда…? Does the position of иногда change the meaning?

Both orders are possible and correct:

Иногда дядя выходит…
Дядя иногда выходит…

The difference is mostly in emphasis:

Иногда дядя выходит…
- Focus on the frequency first: “Sometimes (it happens that) uncle goes out…”
Дядя иногда выходит…
- Focus on “uncle” first: “Uncle sometimes goes out…”

In neutral speech, putting иногда at the very beginning is very common and sounds natural. There is no change in basic meaning; it’s just a nuance of what you highlight.

Why is there a comma before и: …, и мы не можем ему позвонить?

In Russian, a comma is normally used between two independent clauses (two separate “mini‑sentences”) even if they are joined by и:

Иногда дядя … выходит …, и мы не можем ему позвонить.
- Clause 1: Иногда дядя … выходит …
- Clause 2: мы не можем ему позвонить

Each has its own subject and verb, so they are full clauses. Therefore, you put a comma before и.

English often omits the comma in similar cases, but Russian is more strict about separating full clauses with a comma.

Can we drop зачем‑то or куда‑то? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can remove them, but the nuance changes.

Without зачем‑то:
- Иногда дядя выходит куда‑то без телефона…
- Neutral statement: he goes out somewhere without his phone.
- With зачем‑то, you add: “for some (odd / unknown) reason”.
Without куда‑то:
- Иногда дядя зачем‑то выходит без телефона…
- You talk about the strange reason, but don’t mention the “somewhere” idea.
Without both:
- Иногда дядя выходит без телефона…
- Simple, factual: “Sometimes uncle goes out without his phone”, with no hint of vagueness or puzzlement.

With зачем‑то and куда‑то together, the sentence sounds more colloquial and slightly expressive:
“Sometimes uncle, for some reason, goes out somewhere without his phone, and we can’t call him.”