Из-за дождя движение на улице медленное.

Because of the rain, the traffic on the street is slow.

Breakdown of Из-за дождя движение на улице медленное.

• на: on
• улица: the street
• дождь: the rain
• медленный: slow
• из-за: because of
• движение: the motion

Questions & Answers about Из-за дождя движение на улице медленное.

Why is дождя in the genitive case and not дождь or дождём?

The preposition из-за always takes the genitive case.

• дождь – nominative (dictionary form)
• дождя – genitive singular
• дождём – instrumental singular

Because the phrase is из-за + [cause], the cause must be in the genitive:

• из-за дождя – because of the rain
• из-за пробки – because of the traffic jam
• из-за аварии – because of the accident

So дождя is required by the preposition из-за; it’s not freely chosen.

What exactly does из-за mean here? How is it different from потому что (“because”)?

из-за is a preposition meaning “because of / due to” and is followed by a noun in the genitive case.

• Из-за дождя движение на улице медленное.
  Because of the rain, the traffic in the street is slow.

Compared with потому что:

• из-за
  • noun:
    Из-за дождя движение медленное. – Because of the rain…
• потому что
  • clause (full sentence):
    Движение медленное, потому что идёт дождь.
    – The traffic is slow because it’s raining.

Nuance: из-за often suggests a negative or unwanted cause (problems, obstacles). That fits well with traffic being slowed by rain.

Where is the verb “is” in this Russian sentence? Why is there no verb?

Russian often omits the verb “to be” in the present tense when stating what something is or what qualities it has.

• Движение на улице медленное.
  Literally: Traffic in the street slow.
  Implied: Traffic in the street *is slow.*

You could add есть (is) – Движение на улице есть медленное – but in modern Russian that sounds unusual or overly formal in this context. Native speakers almost always drop есть here.

In the past or future, you must use a form of быть:

• Вчера движение было медленным. – Yesterday the traffic *was slow.*
• Завтра движение будет медленным. – Tomorrow the traffic *will be slow.*

Why is it медленное and not медленно?

Because медленное is an adjective agreeing with движение, while медленно is an adverb.

• движение (какое?) медленное – traffic (what kind?) slow
  Here, медленное directly describes the noun движение.

If you use медленно, you change the structure:

• Движение на улице идёт медленно. – The traffic in the street is moving slowly.

Here идёт is the verb, and медленно modifies идёт (how does it move? slowly).

So:

• медленное – adjective, must match движение in gender/number/case.
• медленно – adverb, modifies a verb like идти, двигаться, etc.

Why does медленное end in -ое?

Because it’s agreeing with движение, which is:

• neuter gender
• singular
• nominative case (subject of the sentence)

The full form of the adjective медленный in the neuter nominative singular is медленное.

Pattern for a typical adjective like медленный:

• masculine nominative: медленный (медленный человек)
• feminine nominative: медленная (медленная машина)
• neuter nominative: медленное (медленное движение)
• plural nominative: медленные (медленные машины)

Since движение is neuter nominative singular, the adjective must match: медленное.

What case is на улице and why do we use на here?

На улице is in the prepositional case after the preposition на:

• улица – nominative
• на улице – prepositional

Here, на + prepositional is used for location: on / in the street.

Why на, not в?

• на улице is the idiomatic phrase meaning out on the street (as an environment / open space).
• в улице is basically not used; it would sound wrong.

Compare:

• на улице холодно – It’s cold outside (on the street).
• Я живу на этой улице – I live on this street.

So на улице is the standard way to say “in the street / on the street” when talking about general conditions or location.

What is the role of движение here? Is it “movement” in general or specifically “traffic”?

The noun движение literally means “movement”, but in this context it very naturally means “traffic” (movement of vehicles).

So:

• движение на улице медленное ≈ The traffic in the street is slow.

Depending on context, движение can mean:

• movement of people: движение людей
• political movement: политическое движение
• traffic: дорожное движение, уличное движение

In everyday talk about streets, движение almost always refers to road traffic.

Can I change the word order? For example: Движение на улице медленное из-за дождя?

Yes, Russian word order is fairly flexible, and your example is correct.

All of these are grammatical and natural, with slightly different emphasis:

• Из-за дождя движение на улице медленное.
  – Emphasis on the cause (“because of the rain…”).
• Движение на улице медленное из-за дождя.
  – States the situation first, adds the cause at the end.
• Из-за дождя на улице медленное движение.
  – Highlights “on the street there is slow traffic because of the rain”.

The basic meaning stays the same; the differences are mostly in what the speaker puts in focus.

Could we say движение по улице instead of движение на улице?

You can say движение по улице, but it has a slightly different nuance.

• движение на улице – traffic as a general condition on that street:
  • The traffic on the street is slow (as a state/overall situation).
• движение по улице – movement along/through the street, focusing more on the path:
  • the movement along the street, movement up and down the street.

In your sentence, на улице is more natural, because we’re talking about the overall traffic situation on that street, not the path vehicles are taking.

Could we omit на улице or из-за дождя and still have a correct sentence?

Yes, both can be omitted, and you get shorter but still correct sentences:

• Из-за дождя движение медленное.
  – Because of the rain, traffic is slow. (no mention of where)
• Движение на улице медленное.
  – The traffic in the street is slow. (no mention of why)

Each phrase adds a different piece of information:

• из-за дождя – cause
• на улице – place

All three together give a full picture: Because of the rain, the traffic in the street is slow.

How do you correctly pronounce из-за, and why is there a hyphen?

Pronunciation: [иза], like “eeza” in English transcription.

Details:

• The з at the end of из is pronounced together with the з of за, so you get a long [зз] sound: из-за → изза (spelled with a hyphen, pronounced almost like one word).
• Stress is on за: иЗА.

The hyphen is part of standard spelling for many compound prepositions like:

• из-за – because of
• из-под – from under
• из-за угла – from behind the corner

So you should always write из-за with a hyphen, never изза or из за.

Are there other natural ways to say the same idea in Russian?

Yes, several alternatives are common, for example:

1. Из-за дождя на улице медленное движение.
   – Just a different word order.

2. Из-за дождя движение на улице замедлилось.
   – Because of the rain, the traffic in the street has slowed down.

3. Из-за дождя на улице медленно едет транспорт.
   – Because of the rain, the vehicles in the street are moving slowly.

4. На улице из-за дождя очень медленное движение.
   – In the street, because of the rain, the traffic is very slow.

Your original sentence is a clean, neutral description of the situation; these variants add different verbs or emphasis but keep the same basic meaning.