Learn Hardcore Russian: В загородном доме тихо, и с крыши видно звёзды. - In the country house it is quiet, and from the roof you can see the stars.

With a static location (“in the house”), в takes the prepositional case:
- дом → в доме
- загородный дом → в загородном доме
With motion into something (“into the house”), в takes the accusative case:
- в дом
- в загородный дом

So в загородном доме = “in the country house (inside it),” while в загородный дом = “into the country house (movement toward it).”

What does загородный actually mean, and how is it different from дом за городом or дача?

загородный literally means “out-of-town / outside the city.”
загородный дом is the usual phrase for a country house (a house located outside the city).

Nuances:

загородный дом – neutral “country house,” can be big or small, permanent or weekend home.
дом за городом – literally “a house outside the city.” Very close in meaning, a bit more descriptive/neutral.
дача – a specific Russian concept: a country house or summer cottage, often associated with gardening, weekends, summer, etc. It can be modest or quite fancy; the cultural feel is “summer house / weekend house.”

In this sentence, в загородном доме suggests a peaceful house outside the city. You could also say в доме за городом with nearly the same meaning.

Why is it тихо and not тихий or something like есть тихо?

тихо is an adverb-like form that works as the main predicate of the sentence. In Russian, to say “It is quiet,” you typically just say:

Тихо. – “(It’s) quiet.”

Points to note:

тихий is the adjective “quiet” (used before a noun: тихий дом – quiet house).
тихо is the form used to say “quietly / it is quiet” as a description of the situation.
Russian usually drops the present tense “to be” (есть) in such sentences. So instead of something like “есть тихо”, you simply say тихо.

So В загородном доме тихо literally is “In the country house (it is) quiet.”

Is тихо here an adverb or an adjective? How should I think of it?

Formally, тихо is an adverb, but in sentences like this it functions as a predicative—a word that describes the state of things, like “it is quiet.”

In practice for learners, it’s enough to think:

тихий – “quiet” before a noun (тихий дом).
тихо – “(it is) quiet” when used alone as a sentence description (Тихо в доме, В доме тихо).

Russian has a group of such words (e.g. жарко, холодно, темно, видно, слышно) that commonly act as predicates in impersonal sentences.

Why is there no word for “it” in В загородном доме тихо?

Russian often uses impersonal sentences, where there is no grammatical subject like English “it.”

Instead of saying:

“It is quiet in the country house,”

Russian says:

В загородном доме тихо. – literally, “In the country house, quiet.”

The location phrase в загородном доме sets the scene, and тихо describes the state there. No pronoun is needed.

You can add там for emphasis:

В загородном доме там тихо – but usually там is unnecessary and can sound redundant here.

Why is there a comma before и in тихо, и с крыши видно звёзды?

Because и connects two full clauses, not just two words.

We have:

В загородном доме тихо.
С крыши видно звёзды.

Each part has its own predicate (тихо, видно). When you join two independent clauses with и, Russian usually keeps the comma:

В загородном доме тихо, и с крыши видно звёзды.
“It’s quiet in the country house, and from the roof you can see the stars.”

Why is it с крыши and not на крыше or из крыши?

The preposition с with the genitive often means “from (the surface/top of something)”, i.e. “from off of.”

с крыши – “from (off) the roof / from the roof (as a vantage point).”

Other options:

на крыше
- видно would mean “on the roof (it is) visible / you can see...”
  This focuses on the location on the roof, not the view from it.
из крыши is not natural here; из is mostly “out of / from the inside of” something (like из дома – from the house).

So с крыши видно звёзды = “from the roof (one can see) stars.”

What case is крыши, and why does it have this ending?

Крыши is genitive singular of крыша (roof).

Nominative singular: крыша
Genitive singular: крыши

The genitive is used because of the preposition с in the sense “from (off) a surface/top”:

с крыши – from the roof
с дерева – from the tree
со стола – from the table

So с крыши is a standard с + genitive construction.

What exactly does видно mean here? Is it a verb?

Видно here is a predicative word (historically related to “visible”), not an ordinary conjugated verb.

Functionally, in this sentence it means “is visible / can be seen.”

С крыши видно звёзды.
“From the roof, (the) stars can be seen / are visible from the roof.”

Key points:

It does not change for gender or number: it stays видно whether you talk about звезда or звёзды.
The sentence is impersonal: there is no explicit subject like “you” or “we.”
English often adds “you can see…” to translate this kind of structure.

Why is it видно звёзды, not видны звёзды?

Both are possible, but they are different constructions.

Видно звёзды – impersonal:
- видно – “it is visible / can be seen” (impersonal predicate)
- звёзды – what is visible
- Roughly: “(From there) you can see stars.”
Видны звёзды – personal:
- видны is the short plural form of the adjective “visible,” agreeing with звёзды.
- Literally: “The stars are visible.”

Nuance:

видно звёзды feels more like “You can see stars,” describing a general possibility.
видны звёзды sounds slightly more like a direct statement about the stars themselves: “The stars are (now) visible.”

In the original sentence, видно звёзды fits the impersonal, atmospheric description: “It’s quiet, and (from the roof) you can see stars.”

Can we also say видно звёзд instead of видно звёзды? What’s the difference?

Yes, видно звёзд is also possible, but there is a subtle difference:

видно звёзды (nominative plural) – tends to sound more definite or total:
- “The stars are visible / you can see the stars (as a set).”
видно звёзд (genitive plural) – often sounds more indefinite or partial:
- “You can see (some) stars / there are stars to be seen.”

So:

С крыши видно звёзды. – From the roof you can see the stars (they’re visible in the sky).
С крыши видно звёзд. – From the roof you can see stars (there are stars up there; some stars are visible).

Both are grammatically correct; the nominative звёзды is slightly more neutral here.

What case is звёзды, and why is it in that case after видно?

Звёзды is nominative plural of звезда (star).

In the construction видно + noun, the noun often appears in the nominative, functioning as what is visible:

Видно дом. – The house is visible / You can see the house.
Видно горы. – The mountains are visible / You can see mountains.
Видно звёзды. – The stars are visible / You can see stars.

Alternatively, a genitive can be used (видно звёзд) to suggest “some stars” or an indefinite quantity, as mentioned above.

Can I change the word order and say Звёзды видно с крыши or С крыши звёзды видно?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and these variants are grammatically correct, but the emphasis changes:

С крыши видно звёзды. – neutral; starts from the point of view: “From the roof, you can see stars.”
Звёзды видно с крыши. – emphasizes “the stars” a bit more: “The stars (in particular) can be seen from the roof.”
С крыши звёзды видно. – slightly more colloquial; still focuses on the roof, but with a looser rhythm.

All three are understandable; the original order is the most natural-sounding neutral version.

How do you pronounce загородном and звёзды, and what about the letter ё?

Pronunciation:

загородном: [за́-город-ном]
- Stress on the first syllable: за́городном.
- The г is a hard g sound.
- Both о after the stressed syllable are reduced in fast speech.
звёзды: [звёз-ды]
- Stress on звёз-.
- ё is always pronounced “yo”: звёзды = zvyoz-dy.
- The second syllable -ды is unstressed.

About ё:

In print, ё is often written as е (e.g. звезды), especially in non-children’s texts.
Pronunciation and stress stay the same; dictionaries and learning materials usually keep ё to show you should say “yo.”