Иногда туман быстро исчезает.

Sometimes the fog disappears quickly.

Breakdown of Иногда туман быстро исчезает.

• быстро: quickly
• иногда: sometimes
• туман: the fog
• исчезать: to disappear

Questions & Answers about Иногда туман быстро исчезает.

Why is there no word like “the” before туман?

Russian does not use articles (a, an, the) at all.
So туман can mean fog, a fog, or the fog, depending only on context, not on any special word.

In this sentence, туман simply means “(the) fog” in a general or situational sense.

What case is туман in, and why?

Туман is in the nominative singular case.

• The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence.
• Here, туман is the thing that исчезает (“disappears”), so it must be nominative: туман (not тумана, туману, etc.).

What tense and aspect is исчезает, and how is it different from исчезнет or исчез?

The pair is:

• исчезать – imperfective
• исчезнуть – perfective

Исчезает is:

• Present tense, 3rd person singular
• Imperfective aspect

It describes:

• a regular, repeated action: “(it) sometimes disappears (quickly)”,
• or something happening right now: “(it) is disappearing quickly” (in the right context).

Other forms:

• исчезнет – future, 3rd singular, perfective: “(it) will disappear (once, as a complete event)”
• исчез – past, masculine, perfective: “(it) disappeared” / “has disappeared”

If you said Иногда туман быстро исчезнет, it would sound like:

• “Sometimes the fog will (suddenly) disappear” – talking about future single events, not a general habit.

Why is иногда at the beginning? Can I move it?

Иногда (sometimes) is an adverb of frequency. Russian word order is relatively flexible, and иногда can move:

• Иногда туман быстро исчезает. – neutral, very natural.
• Туман иногда быстро исчезает. – also natural, slightly more focus on туман as the topic.

Putting иногда at the start often gives it a bit more prominence (setting the general time/frequency frame first), similar to English “Sometimes, the fog disappears quickly.”

Where can I put быстро? Is Иногда туман исчезает быстро correct?

Yes, several positions are possible and grammatical:

1. Иногда туман быстро исчезает.

   • Very natural. Быстро is right before the verb it modifies.

2. Иногда туман исчезает быстро.

   • Also correct. This can put a bit more emphasis on быстро (“it disappears — quickly”), especially in speech.

3. Туман иногда быстро исчезает.

   • Also okay, more neutral, with туман as the starting point/topic.

Russian usually places short adverbs like быстро before the verb, but after the subject or time words. Moving быстро after the verb is mainly about emphasis and rhythm, not correctness.

What is the dictionary form and full conjugation pattern of исчезает?

The dictionary (infinitive) form is исчезать (to disappear – imperfective).

It’s a 1st conjugation verb:

• я исчезаю – I disappear / am disappearing
• ты исчезаешь – you disappear
• он / она / оно исчезает – he / she / it disappears
• мы исчезаем – we disappear
• вы исчезаете – you (pl./formal) disappear
• они исчезают – they disappear

So исчезает is:
3rd person singular, present tense, imperfective.

What gender is туман, and does it affect the verb?

Туман is:

• Masculine, inanimate noun.

In the present tense, the verb исчезает does not show gender; it only agrees in person and number.

Gender becomes visible in past tense:

• Туман исчез. – “The fog disappeared.” (masculine form исчез)
  Compare with a feminine noun:
• Туча исчезла. – “The cloud disappeared.” (feminine form исчезла)

How is the sentence stressed and pronounced?

Stresses (accented syllables in bold):

• Иногда́ тумáн бы́стро исчезáет.

Very approximate pronunciation (IPA):

• Иногда́ – [ɪnɐɡˈda]
• тумáн – [tʊˈman]
• бы́стро – [ˈbɨstrə]
• исчезáет – [ɪɕːɪˈza(j)ɪt]

Notes:

• сч in исчезает is pronounced as a long [ɕː] (a soft “sh” sound).
• Unstressed о often sounds like [a] or [ɐ] (vowel reduction).

Why is it быстро and not скоро here?

• Быстро = quickly, fast – describes the speed of an action.
• Скоро = soon – describes when something will happen (in a short time from now).

In this sentence, we’re talking about the speed of the fog’s disappearance, so быстро is correct:

• Иногда туман быстро исчезает. – Sometimes the fog disappears quickly.

If you used скоро, it would sound like “Sometimes the fog disappears soon”, which is a different meaning.

How would I say “Sometimes the fog doesn’t disappear for a long time / doesn’t disappear quickly”?

The most natural way in Russian is to change быстро to something like долго:

• Иногда туман долго не исчезает.
  – Sometimes the fog doesn’t disappear for a long time.

If you literally want “doesn’t disappear quickly”, you can say:

• Иногда туман не быстро исчезает.

But:

• Иногда туман не быстро исчезает. usually implies “it disappears, but not quickly (rather slowly)”, and sounds a bit marked.
• Иногда туман долго не исчезает. is more idiomatic when you mean it just stays for a long time.