Learn Hardcore Russian: Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре вечером. - A quiet whisper can be heard in the corridor in the evening.

Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре вечером.
- слышно is an impersonal predicative word (often called a “category of state”).
- The sentence is more “impersonal”: A quiet whisper can be heard in the corridor in the evening.
- The focus is on the fact of audibility, not so much on the whisper as a grammatical subject.
Тихий шёпот слышен в коридоре вечером.
- слышен is a short-form adjective, agreeing with шёпот (masc. sg.).
- This sounds a bit more bookish/literary and more “personal”: The quiet whisper is audible in the corridor in the evening.

In everyday speech, слышно is more common and neutral in this type of sentence.

What is the grammatical subject of the sentence?

Formally, the sentence is impersonal:

слышно is used impersonally (no explicit grammatical subject in nominative that controls the verb).
Тихий шёпот is not functioning as a normal subject with agreement; it’s more like what is experienced/perceived.

You can compare:

В коридоре слышно шёпот. – A whisper can be heard in the corridor.
There is no “someone” or “something” doing the hearing; the construction just states a perceived state.

Why is “тихий шёпот” in the nominative case and not, say, instrumental like “тихим шёпотом”?

Because тихий шёпот names what is audible:

Тихий шёпот слышно… – A quiet whisper is audible… (what is heard)
Тихим шёпотом (instrumental) would describe how someone is whispering, e.g.:
- Он говорил тихим шёпотом. – He spoke in a quiet whisper.

So here, nominative is used to present the phenomenon that is heard; instrumental would be about the manner of speaking.

What is the difference between “слышно” and “слышать”?

слышать – a regular verb, to hear:
- Я слышу шёпот. – I hear a whisper.
слышно – an impersonal predicative word, meaning it is audible, can be heard:
- Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре. – A quiet whisper can be heard in the corridor.

With слышать, you must have a subject (who hears).
With слышно, you usually don’t mention who hears; the focus is on the state of audibility.

How would you say this in the past or future?

Present (given sentence):

Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре вечером. – A quiet whisper is audible…

Past:

Тихий шёпот было слышно в коридоре вечером. – A quiet whisper was audible…

Future:

Тихий шёпот будет слышно в коридоре вечером. – A quiet whisper will be audible…

Notice that было / будет are neuter singular, matching the impersonal use of слышно.

Can the word order change? For example: “В коридоре вечером слышно тихий шёпот”?

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and these are all possible:

Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре вечером.
В коридоре вечером слышно тихий шёпот.
Вечером в коридоре слышно тихий шёпот.
Слышно тихий шёпот в коридоре вечером.

The main differences are in information focus:

Putting в коридоре вечером first emphasizes the place/time.
Putting тихий шёпот first emphasizes what is heard.

For a neutral, descriptive sentence, the original word order is very natural.

Why is it “в коридоре” and not “по коридору”?

Different prepositions express different relations:

в коридоре (prep. case) – literally in the corridor, location inside that space.
по коридору (dat. case) – often means along the corridor, through the corridor (movement or distribution).

Here the whisper is heard located in the corridor, not necessarily moving along it, so в коридоре is the natural choice.

Can “вечером” be placed before “в коридоре”?

Yes. Both are fine and natural:

Тихий шёпот слышно в коридоре вечером.
Тихий шёпот слышно вечером в коридоре.

Russian allows fairly free order of multiple adverbials (time, place, manner). The difference is slight:

в коридоре вечером – slightly more focus on the corridor (in the evening there).
вечером в коридоре – slightly more focus on the evening (in the corridor at that time).

In everyday speech, both orders are acceptable without any strong nuance.

How do you negate this sentence? Where does “не” go?

You negate слышно:

Тихий шёпот не слышно в коридоре вечером.

More natural, though, is to move things around a bit:

В коридоре вечером тихий шёпот не слышно.
В коридоре вечером шёпота не слышно.

Using the genitive (шёпота) after negation is very common and sounds more idiomatic:

В коридоре вечером шёпота не слышно. – In the corridor in the evening, no whisper can be heard.

Is “слышно” an adverb or an adjective? Why is it neuter?

Traditional school grammar treats words like слышно, видно, жарко, холодно as “category of state” (предикативы). They are:

Not normal adverbs (they don’t just modify verbs).
Not normal adjectives (they don’t freely agree with nouns).

They behave like impersonal predicates:

Слышно шёпот. – A whisper can be heard.
Холодно. – It is cold.

They often combine with neuter было / будет in past/future (было слышно, будет слышно), which is why they appear in neuter-like forms, but you don’t treat them as agreeing adjectives here.

How is “шёпот” pronounced and where is the stress?

Spelling: шёпот
IPA: [ˈʂɵpət]
Stress is on the first syllable: шЁпот.
The letter ё is always stressed and pronounced as [йо] or [о] with a preceding softening; here it’s like “shO-pot” (but with Russian ш).

In practice, ё is often printed as е in Russian texts, but the correct form is шёпот and the stress doesn’t move.

Can I use the plural, like “тихие шёпоты слышно” for quiet whispers?

Grammatically you could say тихие шёпоты, but it sounds odd and literary in most contexts.
More natural options:

Слышно тихий шёпот голосов. – A quiet whisper of voices can be heard.
Слышны тихие голоса. – Quiet voices are audible.
Слышится тихий шёпот. – A quiet whisper is heard / seems to be heard.

The noun шёпот is usually used in the singular even when many people are whispering, like English “whispering” or “a murmur”.

What is the difference between “слышно” and “слышится” in this kind of sentence?

слышно – neutral statement of fact:
- В коридоре вечером слышно тихий шёпот.
- A quiet whisper can be heard… (it is audible).
слышится – often has a nuance of seeming, it is heard (to someone):
- В коридоре вечером слышится тихий шёпот.
- A quiet whisper seems to be heard in the corridor in the evening.
- Can imply atmosphere, perception, maybe uncertainty or subjectivity.

Both are correct; слышно is more straightforward and factual, слышится is a bit more poetic or subjective.