Learn Hardcore Russian: Иногда спешка мешает мне спокойно читать книгу. - Sometimes a rush prevents me from calmly reading a book.

Иногда – adverb, sometimes, modifies the whole sentence.
спешка – noun, nominative singular, subject of the sentence (haste).
мешает – verb, 3rd person singular, present tense, imperfective (hinders / prevents).
мне – pronoun, 1st person singular dative (to me / for me), an indirect object.
спокойно – adverb (calmly / peacefully), modifies the verb читать.
читать – infinitive verb (to read / reading), the action being hindered.
книгу – noun, accusative singular, direct object of читать (a book).

Why is it мне and not меня after мешает?

The verb мешать in the sense to disturb, to hinder, to prevent normally takes:

мешать кому-то делать что-то
(to hinder someone from doing something)

So the person who is hindered is in the dative case:

мне мешает спешка – haste bothers me / gets in my way
ему мешает музыка – the music bothers him

Меня would be accusative and would not be correct with this meaning of мешать.

Note: мешать can take accusative in a different meaning, to mix:

мешать суп – to stir/mix the soup

Why is читать in the infinitive here?

In Russian, when you talk about something preventing an action, you usually use an infinitive:

мешать кому-то делать что-то – to prevent someone from doing something
запрещать курить – to forbid smoking / to forbid to smoke

So мешает мне читать = prevents me from reading / makes it hard for me to read.

You could theoretically use a noun like чтение (reading), but it would sound formal and unnatural here:

спешка мешает моему чтению книги – grammatically correct, but stiff and bookish.
The infinitive is the natural, everyday choice.

Why is the adverb placed as спокойно читать, not читать спокойно? Are both possible?

Both спокойно читать книгу and читать книгу спокойно are grammatically correct.

The default / most neutral position for an adverb modifying an infinitive is before it:
- спокойно читать
Moving it after the verb (читать спокойно) is possible, but slightly changes the rhythm and can give a bit more emphasis to спокойно, like:
- …читать книгу спокойно – …to read the book calmly (you’re stressing how you read).

In this specific sentence, мне спокойно читать книгу is the standard, natural-sounding word order.

Why is it книгу (accusative) here, and can we omit книгу?

Case:
- читать (что?) книгу – книгу is the direct object, so it goes in the accusative.
- Nominative would be used only if книга were the subject, which it isn’t here.
Can we omit it?
Yes. Often Russians say just:
- спешка мешает мне спокойно читать – haste keeps me from reading calmly
If the fact of reading is important but what you’re reading is obvious or not important, the object can be dropped. Adding книгу just specifies that the thing you want to read is a book (as opposed to, say, messages or articles).

Why is there no word for a or the before книгу? How do I know if it’s a book or the book?

Russian has no articles (a/an/the). The noun книгу by itself can mean:

a book
the book

The exact nuance comes from context:

If you’re just talking generally: …читать книгу = to read a book (any book).
If both speakers know which book you mean, it’s understood as the book.

The original sentence, by itself and without context, is most naturally understood as a book or just a book in general.

Why use the noun спешка instead of a clause like когда я спешу?

Both are possible, but they feel different:

Иногда спешка мешает мне…
- Uses an abstract noun (haste) as the subject.
- Sounds more general, almost like a proverb: Sometimes haste prevents me from reading calmly.
Когда я спешу, мне трудно спокойно читать книгу.
- Focuses specifically on me being in a hurry.
- More concrete and personal, less proverb-like.

Using спешка makes haste itself feel like a thing or a force that gets in your way.

Can we change the word order, for example to Иногда мне спешка мешает спокойно читать книгу?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and several versions are possible and natural:

Иногда спешка мешает мне спокойно читать книгу. – neutral baseline.
Иногда мне спешка мешает спокойно читать книгу. – more focus on мне and спешка as a pair; still natural.
Спешка иногда мешает мне спокойно читать книгу. – slightly more emphasis on спешка.

Versions like:

Иногда спешка мне мешает спокойно читать книгу. – also OK, stressing спешка мне мешает as a block.

What would sound odd is splitting мне and спокойно читать in a strange way, e.g.:

Иногда спешка мешает спокойно мне читать книгу – technically possible but unnatural; Russians rarely place мне there.

The safest, most neutral version is the original order.

Why is мешает (imperfective present) used, not помешает or помешала?

мешает – imperfective, present tense
- With иногда, it describes a repeated / habitual situation:
  - Sometimes haste gets in my way.
помешает – perfective, future
- Would mean will (once) prevent in some specific future case:
  - Спешка помешает мне спокойно прочитать книгу. – Haste will prevent me from peacefully finishing the book.
мешала / помешала – past:
- мешала – repeatedly or over some period in the past
- помешала – one completed act of interference

In the original, we’re talking about a general, recurring problem, so мешает (imperfective present) is the natural choice.

Could we drop мне? What would Иногда спешка мешает спокойно читать книгу mean?

If you remove мне, you get:

Иногда спешка мешает спокойно читать книгу.

Grammatically, this is still correct. Now it sounds more impersonal / general, like:

Sometimes haste makes it hard to read a book calmly.
(Not specifically for me, but in general, for anyone.)

With мне, it’s clearly about the speaker:

Спешка мешает мне… – Haste gets in my way.

What is the difference between спокойно and words like тихо or в тишине here?

спокойно – calmly, peacefully.
- Focus is on your inner state and the unhurried, relaxed way of reading.
тихо – quietly, silently.
- Focus is on sound level: you read without making noise (or in a quiet environment).
в тишине – in silence / in quiet.
- Focus is on the silent surroundings, not necessarily on your inner calm.

So:

спешка мешает мне спокойно читать книгу – haste keeps me from reading in a calm, unhurried way.
спешка мешает мне читать книгу в тишине – sounds strange logically (haste vs silence); usually noise, not haste, would мешать читать в тишине.

How is this sentence stressed and pronounced?

Stressed syllables marked with an accent:

иногдá – i-nag-DÁ
спéшка – SPÉSH-ka
мешáет – me-SHÁ-et
мнé – mnyÉ
спокóйно – spa-KÓY-na
читáть – chi-TÁT’
кни́гу – KNÍ-gu

Put together (with rough transcription):

Иногда спешка мешает мне спокойно читать книгу.
- [inagDÁ SPÉSH-ka meSHÁ-yet mnyÉ spaKÓY-na chiTÁT’ KNÍ-gu]

The main sentence stress usually falls on мешáет, and secondary stress on спéшка and спокóйно.