Breakdown of Без электричества лифт не работал, поэтому я поднялась по лестнице пешком.
я
I
не
not
работать
to work
без
without
Questions & Answers about Без электричества лифт не работал, поэтому я поднялась по лестнице пешком.
Why does электричества become электричества (genitive) after без?
The preposition без (without) normally requires the genitive case.
So электричество (nominative) → электричества (genitive): без электричества = without electricity.
Is Без электричества a full clause? It feels like something is missing (like не было).
It’s a prepositional phrase, not a full clause. Russian often uses this kind of “setting phrase” to give the circumstance:
Без электричества = With no electricity / Without electricity.
You could also say a fuller version like Не было электричества, и лифт не работал... (There was no electricity, and the elevator didn’t work...), but the given sentence is completely natural as-is.
Why is it лифт не работал and not лифт не работал(а/о) or some other ending?