Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше, но попала в пробку.

My sister was supposed to come earlier, but she got stuck in a traffic jam.

Breakdown of Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше, но попала в пробку.

• мой: my
• сестра: the sister
• но: but
• прийти: to come
• раньше: earlier
• в: into
• пробка: the traffic jam
• должен: to be supposed to
• попасть: to get into

Questions & Answers about Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше, но попала в пробку.

What exactly does должна была mean here? Is it more like had to or was supposed to?

Должна была literally combines:

• должна – must / ought to (feminine form of должен)
• была – was (past tense of быть, to be)

Together, должна была means “was supposed to / had to (but didn’t)”.

Very often in Russian, должен был / должна была + infinitive implies that the expected action did not happen:

• Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше…
  → She was supposed to come earlier (but didn’t).

Context confirms this, because the second part explains why she didn’t: но попала в пробку (but she got stuck in traffic).

Why is it должна, not должен?

Должна agrees in gender with the subject сестра:

• сестра – feminine noun
• therefore we use feminine form должна

Other forms of this word:

• должен – masculine (e.g. он должен прийти – he must come)
• должна – feminine (e.g. она должна прийти – she must come)
• должно – neuter (e.g. оно должно быть здесь – it should be here)
• должны – plural (e.g. они должны прийти – they must come)

Why do we need была? Could we just say Моя сестра должна прийти раньше?

Yes, but it changes the tense and meaning:

• Моя сестра должна прийти раньше
  → My sister is supposed to come earlier (present/future expectation).

• Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше
  → My sister was supposed to come earlier (past expectation, usually not fulfilled).

So была is what puts the obligation in the past.

Why is the infinitive прийти and not приходить?

This is an aspect choice:

• прийти – perfective, to come / to arrive (one-time, completed arrival)
• приходить – imperfective, to be coming / used to come (process or repeated action)

Here the idea is a single planned arrival at some earlier time, so Russian prefers the perfective:

• должна была прийти раньше – was supposed to arrive earlier (once)

If you talked about a repeated habit, you’d use приходить:

• Она должна была приходить раньше каждый день.
  She was supposed to come earlier every day.

Could we change the word order to должна была раньше прийти? Is that OK?

Yes, both orders are grammatical:

• должна была прийти раньше
• должна была раньше прийти

The difference is tiny:

• прийти раньше – slightly more neutral; common order.
• раньше прийти – puts a bit more emphasis on earlier.

In everyday speech, both sound natural. The original version is probably the most typical.

What is the difference between раньше, рано, and пораньше?

All are related to early, but they are used differently:

• рано – early (absolute, not comparative)

  • Она пришла рано. – She came early.

• раньше – earlier (comparative: earlier than some reference point)

  • Она должна была прийти раньше. – She was supposed to come earlier.

• пораньше – a bit earlier / a little earlier (softer, often more polite)

  • Приходи пораньше. – Try to come a bit earlier.

In this sentence we compare to the actual arrival time, so раньше is the natural choice.

What does попала literally mean in попала в пробку?

Попала is the feminine past tense of попасть.

Basic meanings of попасть:

1. To hit / get into / land in a place or situation
2. To end up somewhere, often accidentally

So попала в пробку is literally “(she) ended up in a traffic jam / got into a traffic jam.”

English usually says “got stuck in traffic”, but Russian uses попасть в пробку.

Why is it в пробку and not в пробке?

The preposition в works with different cases:

• В + Accusative → motion into something (куда? – where to?)

  • в пробку – into a traffic jam

• В + Prepositional → location inside something (где? – where?)

  • в пробке – in a traffic jam

With попасть, we focus on the movement / entry into that situation, so we use Accusative:

• попасть в пробку – to get into a traffic jam (the moment you encounter it)

If you described being already in it, you might say:

• Она была в пробке. – She was in a traffic jam.

Does пробка only mean “traffic jam”?

No, пробка has several common meanings:

1. Traffic jam – as in this sentence

   • Мы стоим в пробке. – We are stuck in traffic.

2. Cork / bottle stopper

   • винная пробка – wine cork

3. Less commonly, plug / stopper in some contexts.

The meaning is determined by context. Here, with попала в пробку and the situation of being late, it clearly means traffic jam.

Could we say застряла в пробке instead of попала в пробку?

Yes, and it’s very natural:

• Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше, но застряла в пробке.

Difference in nuance:

• попала в пробку – focuses on the fact that she ran into a traffic jam.
• застряла в пробке – focuses on the fact that she got stuck there.

Both are idiomatic and common; they describe the same real-life situation.

Why is there a comma before но?

In Russian, но (but) usually introduces a separate clause that contrasts with the first one, so we put a comma:

• Моя сестра должна была прийти раньше,
  – first clause: expected plan
• но попала в пробку.
  – second clause: what actually happened, in contrast

This is similar to English:
“My sister was supposed to come earlier, but she got stuck in traffic.”